ABSTRACT
Unlike other European countries, Ireland does not have a developed specialist instrumental and vocal music education policy or an adequate country-wide provision of this. This chapter explores the historical development of music schools and instrumental and vocal music education in Ireland and shows how the long-established principle of subsidiarity or subvention has impacted the growth of the private market and continues to give a distinct advantage to better-off families, thus perpetuating structural inequality. Using unpublished data sourced over a period of four years from a previous study by the author, the chapter demonstrates how instrumental and vocal music education in Ireland is largely navigated by private family capitals which include social, cultural, and financial resources. The author argues that by allowing an unregulated service to continue, opportunities for extensive redcolor development of professionally recognised collaboration may be missed due to the current variation in teaching standards.
