U2, who helped establish the national music education programme, Music Generation, in 2010 with a €5m donation, is to gift a further €2m this year.

The donation will come from the proceeds of the band’s concerts in Dublin and Belfast this November as part of their iNNOCENCE & eXPERIENCE global tour.

Rosaleen Molloy, National Director of Music Generation, said:

Music Generation would not exist without U2’s vision. It was the band’s very own personal experience of music education as children and teenagers that has driven their commitment to kick-start this ground breaking project… U2’s ultimate vision for music education in Ireland is for universal access for every child and young person across the whole country. Music Generation shares in this vision and we look forward to the prospect of the programme expanding from 2016.

Music Generation has to date set up programmes in 12 areas around the country (Carlow, Clare, Cork City, Laois, Louth, Limerick City, Mayo, Sligo, South Dublin, Offaly/Westmeath and Wicklow), reaching over 26,000 children and creating 330 employment opportunities, mainly for musicians through tuition. In 2013, the Government announced that they were committing long-term funding to the scheme.

In further music education news, the Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs, Joe McHugh TD, has announced that he is allocating funding of €390,000 over three years to An Gaelacadamh in County Galway.

An Gaelacadamh provides tuition in traditional music, song and dance through Irish to over 1,000 children in 31 locations across Conamara, from An Spidéal to Carna, and including the Aran Islands. The organisation employs 19 part-time teachers and also organises the annual Éigse an Spidéil festival. Its tutors include Mary Bergin, Noel Hill and Éilís Lennon.