“The crisis in the music industry has meant that Irish musicians are relying more than ever on small businesses like indie record companies, gig promoters, PR companies and so on. The next government should provide support for all small businesses, but not just in the music business. There are job opportunities in all of this. We need to make more use of our assets, not just music and the arts but our natural humour. Numerous people come here from abroad and tell stories of going into a pub where they knew nobody and coming out with ten new friends. But we need politicians with the vision to use all that. I was never a big fan of the Celtic Tiger. All it did was build a boardwalk in Dublin and fill it with junkies. Unfortunately, the biggest egotists I’ve met were not rock stars but politicians. I have so little confidence in their ability to solve anything, so maybe we need to look to ourselves, and each other, to find a way forward.”