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We Irish are world leaders and standard-setters in traditional music. In any other sector this uniquely Irish art form would be recognised as a definitive strategic and competitive advantage – why not here, asks PHILIP KING

THERE WAS a time, and it’s not so long ago, when the traditional arts were not a consideration. The notion of having the words traditional, arts, and economy in the same sentence would have been unthinkable and maybe meaningless.