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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 26 Jun 1996

Vol. 467 No. 5

Adjournment Debates. - Musical Education.

I welcome the opportunity to raise this matter on the Adjournment. Ireland is the only country in the European Union which does not have a national conservatoire for music. I first raised this matter in the Dáil on 14 February 1996 but I did not get a reply from the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht.

Despite national pride in our musical and theatrical traditions we do not have a national academy of stage craft or acting. Many young performing artists are forced to pursue their undergraduate studies abroad and they usually stay abroad when their studies are completed. Why can we not draw all these strands together under the third level institution for the performing arts? Such an institution would provide departments for classical music, opera, jazz, popular music, drama and traditional music, as well as allied subjects such as music technology, recording techniques and film, television and video production. The conservatoire could provide valuable training for conductors. At present there is no full-time course for conductors in Ireland. This would subsequently benefit our solo performers, composers and orchestral musicians. The centre for the performing arts could also provide full-time training for opera singers. There is no such full-time training available in Ireland despite the country having produced many wonderful voices.

The Government is seeking a millennium project. A building already exists which could appropriately house such a venture with little cost to the Exchequer for refurbishment. That building is in Earlsfort Terrace. There is already a decision in principle that UCD will move out of that building. The National Concert Hall is located in Earlsfort Terrace and the rest of the site could become the Irish academy for performing arts and a source of national pride. I understand that if drama were included in the curriculum the Abbey Theatre might be interested in cooperating with the project. Co-operation might also be forthcoming from the Arts Council in Northern Ireland.

The idea would be to include all aspects of music, not just classical music. Employment in music has grown substantially over the past ten years. Apart from traditional jobs in performance and teaching there is a huge growth in jobs in CD production, pop music recordings, music technology, traditional music composition and music for film and TV. Centralising the teaching of all these aspects of music makes economic sense, as well as allowing music students to have the widest possible education which would help break down traditional barriers between classical, pop, traditional, jazz and other types of music. The resultant growth in the employment possibilities for students of a national conservatoire would be enormous.

The PIANO report, published at the end of January 1996, refers to the need for a national music conservatoire and the problems caused by the lack of a musical educational policy. The report also refers to the need for the establishment of an Irish academy for the performing arts. Such an institution is "needed as soon as possible because of the increased demand and rising standards among our young people". I ask for a positive decision on this matter from the Minister for Education and the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht. In February this year I raised this matter in the Dáil with the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht. He said he wished to wait for more submissions and consultations to be completed. Over 16 weeks later we need positive action rather than prevarication.

The PIANO report which was submitted to the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht earlier this year dealt extensively with the issue of musical education, an issue strictly speaking outside its formal terms of reference. However, as the Minister indicated at the time the report was presented to him, he was grateful that the committee thought this issue to be of such importance as to warrant inclusion regardless of their terms of reference. The chairman of the committee, Dr. John O'Conor, in his forward to the report, acknowledged that many of the report's recommendations in this area would be proper to be pursued by the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht with me as Minister for Education.

In that report a case is made for the establishment of an Irish academy for the performing arts, based at the existing premises at Earlsfort Terrace in Dublin which is currently occupied by the National Concert Hall and departments of University College Dublin. The report visualises that such an academy would not only serve classical music, which is what the term "Conservatoire" implies, but would serve all of the performing arts. Departments within the academy suggested in the report include a department of classical music, obviously, and departments of opera, drama, traditional music, popular music and jazz, music technology and recording techniques, dance, film, video and television and applied arts. The reports argues it is important that the suggested academy serve all the performing arts as the possibilities for crossover between departments will increase the eventual employment possibilities of the students.

The report recommends that the most economical way of setting up such an academy would be to amalgamate the third level sections of the Royal Irish Academy of Music and the Dublin Institute of Technology College of Music. The Deputy will appreciate that the recommendation contained in the report raises many complex issues, including the issue of the use to which the Earlsfort Terrace site is to be put when it is possible to move the departments of University College Dublin, currently housed there, to the Belfield campus.

I can inform the Deputy that the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht has already been in correspondence with me regarding my reaction to the recommendations in the PIANO report that impinge on the responsibilities of the Department of Education, including in particular the recommendation in relation to the establishment of an academy for the performing arts. The Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht and I will be in further consultation with a view to coming to a conclusion on the relevant recommendations in the report.

It would be unfair of me, however, not to conclude on a note of caution. The establishment of an academy for the performing arts clearly has major implications for current and capital expenditure. A preliminary estimate of the cost of converting the Earlsfort Terrace building prepared by the Office of Public Works amounts to in excess of £11 million. This figure does not include the cost of rehousing the departments of UCD that would be moved to the Belfield campus. Clearly any decision to be taken by the Government regarding the establishment of an academy would have to have regard to implications for existing providers of music education as well as budgetary implications.

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