ABSTRACT
By comparison with more 'regional' nations such as Scotland, nation states such as Ireland are theoretically in a stronger position to develop cohesive policy and planning strategies for music. Indeed, compared with most other member states in the European Union (EU), Ireland has a highly centralized system of arts and culture organizations. National arts policy in Ireland has been under government ministerial control since the 1980s. Throughout the 1990s a number of music industry agencies advocated the economic potential of Irish popular music. A wide range of statutory-based and voluntary organizations supporting music provides evidence of a developing and increasingly diverse cultural field. In theory, music education is available to all children attending state-supported primary schools under specific provisions of the 1998 Education Act, though the extent to which this policy has been realized remains to be investigated. A two-tiered system is implied by existing infrastructures for music and for music education in Ireland.
