First published on The Journal of Music in Ireland on 5 March 2026.

Former Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin has been appointed Head of Policy, Ireland, with the Ivors Academy. In this interview with Toner Quinn, she discusses her new advocacy role for songwriters and composers, the challenges posed by AI, and the future of the Basic Income for the Arts.

It is just over 13 months since Catherine Martin lost her seat as a Green TD – which in turn ended her tenure as Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media as part of the last coalition government. In terms of arts ministries, her four and a half years in the role were the most consequential in a generation. 

She took up the position in June 2020, at the height of the pandemic, and made it her goal to ‘future-proof the arts’. By October, she had increased the Arts Council budget by 63% to €130m, and in the next month, began planning the launch of the Basic Income for the Arts pilot. By 2022, it was a reality, and reports over the subsequent three years confirmed it as not only an effective support but it also generated a return for the Exchequer. Last October, the new Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan, announced that the scheme would become permanent and in February he outlined the details. Applications will open in May.

Now, however, Martin is turning to a new role. In February, the Ivors Academy in the UK, which represents songwriters and composers and has over 13,000 members, announced that it was opening an office in Ireland and that it had appointed her as Head of Policy, Ireland. The establishment of the Irish office is clearly a result of the UK leaving the EU. Her new role will see her lobby both the Irish government and the EU. While she was approached about the role last year, she had to wait until her post-Government ‘cooling-off period’ of twelve months had ended. She has now registered the Ivors with the Register of Lobbying and has an office based at IMRO in Dublin, who are also providing support for the role.

The Ivors Academy is best known for its annual songwriter and composer awards in London. Irish winners and nominees have included U2, Hozier, CMAT, Orla Gartland, Fontaines D.C. and Lankum. The Academy, formed through the merger of the Composers Guild of Great Britain, the Songwriters Guild of Great Britain and the Association of Professional Composers, also established the British Composer Awards in 2003, and winners from Ireland have included Brian Irvine, Andrew Hamilton and Jennifer Walshe. But another aspect of the Academy’s role is its advocacy work. During the pandemic it launched a campaign with the Musicians’ Union to ‘fix streaming’, and last year it secured an agreement with UK labels that means songwriters are now paid per diems and expenses for songwriting sessions. Martin hopes to bring this agreement to Ireland also. Speaking to The Journal of Music in Ireland, the former Minister said her objectives in her new role are clear:

The main thing I’m going to be doing is looking at the big issues facing our songwriters and composers, which includes fair pay for streaming, AI and copyright, protecting their rights, access to education, fair commissioning, and building sustainable careers – that will be tackled through advocacy, through policy work, through public campaigning and making sure their voices are heard.

Martin notes that the EU is currently reviewing its copyright framework, particularly in the light of radical developments in AI, and the revised legislation will have significant implications for artists. Ireland also holds the EU presidency from July to December this year so the timing of her Ivors appointment is significant. 

The new role means that Martin will be returning to engage with her old department, but in a different capacity. How does that feel?

I know how the department works and I have respect for all the officials who work there. The relevant ministers – Minister Burke [Enterprise, Tourism and Employment], Minister O’Donovan [Culture, Communications and Sport] and Minister Niamh Smyth [Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation] – will be key in everything that I’m seeking for songwriters, composers, and the work I do for the Ivors Academy. I look forward to engaging with them. It can only be a positive for the people I’m representing, that I’m hitting the ground running.

Given that AI companies have scraped huge swathes of copyrighted material from the internet, and are now using it to generate music amongst everything else (Google’s Gemini has just launched the ability to generate a 30-second song with a simple prompt), a key focus for Martin is generative AI.

I often feel our songwriters and composers are forgotten about in the AI debate. I want to put them front and centre. I think [Ireland’s] EU presidency is a moment to do that … There’s a need for targeted EU intervention to address the massive unfairness in the generative AI market and ensure appropriate pay of our European creators … That means recognising that licensing with consent is the solution, not weakening copyright through broad text and data mining exceptions. … If AI companies want to use music and lyrics, they should license them properly and pay for that use.

It is a significant brief for a new role. Martin will be working with the Ivors advocacy team in London, and also IMRO. But on a practical level, what does the advocacy work involve?

It’s bringing that awareness to our politicians, seeking to engage with them, hoping they will raise in the Dáil and the Seanad the need for the protection of our songwriters and composers… I’ll be engaging with them to raise the case of the songwriter, making sure they’re front and centre in anything that’s done with AI and the EU presidency, and engaging with MEPs. I look forward to that. … I’ve been at the Cabinet table. I’ve been in opposition and I’ve been in government – we need everyone on the side of our songwriters and composers.

Musical background and the BIA
Martin’s experience as Minister for Arts obviously informs her approach to her new role, but also her own background in the arts. She grew up singing and playing piano, her father was an artist, she completed a music and English degree in Maynooth University and won a college song contest, and then taught music at secondary school for twenty years. This May, she will return to sing with Maynooth University Chamber Choir for its fortieth anniversary. When the Greens lost all of their seats in the 2011 election and she became Deputy Leader, one of the first things she did was to organise a concert in Vicar Street to celebrate the Greens’ thirty years in Ireland. The concert was titled Tríocha Bliain ag Fás and featured Martin Hayes, Dónal Lunny, Maighréad and Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill, and Eleanor McEvoy. 

These experiences informed her thinking when she became Minister for Arts and saw the collapse of the arts sector during the pandemic. ‘I just knew that the arts were on their knees,’ she says, ‘and they were on their knees following maybe 20 years of, in my opinion, not being supported properly.’ She also knew that the research was key in getting the BIA over the line – ‘the research had to be gold standard’ –  but she could also anticipate the results of the research.

You could guess, on day one of the Basic Income, what the research would say: it had to improve their mental well-being, and if your well-being improved and your financial security, you’re going to create more. … They’re interlinked, your mental well-being and putting bread on the table. How can you create if you’re worried about that?

How does she feel, then, about the other major news from February, that the BIA has been made permanent by Minister O’Donovan and will launch in May? ‘It has to be welcomed that it’s permanent,’ she said.

That’s the most significant part of the announcement… Of course, I would like to see it expanded, but I’m given to understand that’s what [Minister O’Donovan] hopes to do. That will require the whole of government backing him… that’s what I know from being in there. But I commend the fact that it’s permanent now. … It was at €35 million a year for 2,000 [artists]. It should be going up more and more. I hope that people will talk to all the politicians to put the pressure on. At least we have a Minister who would bring that to the Cabinet, so fair play to him.

Will she ever return to politics?

I’m a never say never sort of person, but I’m really happy in my current role, and I have the sleeves rolled up and am really looking forward to doing this work on behalf of songwriters and composers. They need someone focused on them. So I’m happy to do it.

For more on the Ivors Academy, visit https://ivorsacademy.com.