Arts Bill Purpose 

Submission to The Joint Committee on Heritage and the Irish Language on the Traditional Music of Ireland

1. Purpose

We are basing this submission on the assumption that the purpose of the exercise is to examine the current state of the music and to find ways in which it can be assisted. Our purpose in making it is to clarify and state the nature of Irish Traditional Music, so that its strengths and weaknesses may be clearly understood, and so that appropriate support measures may be initiated and inappropriate ones avoided.

This submission will not recommend specific actions, but it will suggest a framework of values by which possible initiatives may be evaluated.

In general, we submit that Irish Traditional Music is already in the hands of those who are best equipped to safeguard it and to promote its interests. It is emphatically not an un-developed or under-developed resource, to be exploited for some secondary objective such as tourism.

There are areas where assistance would be useful. To identify these the Committee should consult only with the traditional music community itself and not outside interests. When assessing submissions from whatever source, the Committee should carefully examine the motivation and objectives. If these are secondary to the interests of the music itself the submissions should be rejected. Irish traditional music must not be identified with the music or entertainment industries, or with the tourist industry, the education sector or any other interest. It has its own interests and priorities which are different from, and very often opposed to, the interests of these sectors.

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