A groups of well know musicians including Phil Coulter and John Sheahan from The Dubliners were at Leinster House today to lend their support to efforts by Labour TD Willie Penrose to introduce a quota for Irish music on radio stations.
Deputy Penrose wants to see 40% of all radio airtime being devoted to Irish music and plans to introduce new legislation in the Dáil to give effect to his proposals.
According to him an amendment to the Broadcasting Act, which would make this quota compulsory for all Irish radio stations, is necessary as "there are eight to ten thousand jobs dependant on this".
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He said unless quotas similar to those in France, Canada and South Africa are put in place, a new generation of musicians will struggle to make a living and he warned that in terms of an indigenous Irish music scene "there will be nothing left very soon".
The Labour TD referred to the popularity of country artists such as Nathan Carter which wasn't being reflected in radio airplay and pointed out that last year's Late Late Show Country special attracted one of its highest ratings of the year with 1.3 million viewers tuning in during the course of the show.
His concerns over the future of the Irish music industry were echoed by songwriter Phil Coulter who attended today's event along with Sibéal Ní Chasaide, Ruaile Buaile, the O'Neill sisters and other musicians.
"For a whole new generation of talented kids in this country I despair of what's in store for them. Without support on radio the Irish music industry is already in decline and it's going to get worse unless there's some radio support", he said.
Coulter said that the introduction of a radio quota was essential and claimed that while many radio stations had set a target of 30% airplay for Irish music, it was as low as 3% on some Dublin commercial stations.
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