Brussels seeks payment from the Danny Boy piper

THE pipes that lament Danny Boy and the melancholy assurance to the emigre Kathleen, queen of the Irish diaspora, that she will be coming home again, may cost more in the United States if Brussels bureaucrats have their way. On foot of a complaint this week from the Irish Music Rights Association (IMRO), the European Commission said it was examining whether the US contravened international trade laws by allowing bars and restaurants to play Irish music to customers. In the US the exemption clause is costing the Irish music industry close on £1 million a year. Overall annual losses to the EU music industry are put at £20 million per annum. The Brussels response is music to the ears of IMRO, which argues that the US is in breach of the Berne Copyright Convention. Heartbreak enough, if more were needed, to further water down the beer of nostalgic Irish exiles in the Bronx.