CIAM Elections 2026 - Tom Dunne
IMRO
It was Eleanor McEvoy, who I am sure most of you know as the previous Chair, and a legendary one at that, who suggested I might stand for election to IMRO. I was elected in 2024 and served on the Corporate Governance and Distribution Committees. It was subsequently suggested that I might stand as Chair which I did in 2025, being elected in December. I cannot adequately describe what an honour this was.
Eleanor has talked to me frequently about the importance of CIAM and if anything, I think she has underplayed its significance. I find the insights and shared knowledge of the other CIAM members invaluable to the issues I have encountered so far in IMRO.
CIAM is the one forum where the importance of the song and the songwriter / composer is paramount. We exist in a complicated, multilayered, collaborative, music world but it is essential to occasionally take the focus back to the building blocks. CIAM members perspectives here are gold dust.
IMRO is enjoying some notable successes. A government motion recognising and undertaking to protect the rights of composers was recently passed by all parties in Dail Eireann. The Basic Income for the Arts has been extended, and the Government appears to be about to introduce, as championed by IMRO, the Culture Card for teenagers giving them €100 to spend on cultural events. The Ivors Institute has also launched an Irish Chapter.
Anything I can do to share insights from these experiences with other CIAM members I would be happy to do. IMRO is enjoying growth in membership and revenue and if there are lessons to be learned for others don’t hesitate to ask.
With the threat posed by generative AI of course all such positive steps could be washed away in a moment. That is why I would love to be re-elected to the ExCo, where, as both a member of CIAM and the chair of IMRO, I would undertake to do all I can to protect and foster the rights of creatives worldwide.
If there is anything else you need to know, contact me: tom.dunne@IMRO.ie
BIOGRAPHY
I am a UCD (Engineering) and TCD (Computer Modelling) graduate whose life, like many of my peers was hijacked by music. Initially this was a post punk, post U2 band called The End. We played “74 gigs to 73 people” as a friend used to say. Luckily my next band, Something Happens, had a little more success.
Something Happens, in which I was the singer/ co-songwriter was signed initially to Virgin Records for recording and Virgin Music for Publishing. We recorded three albums, two of which topped the Irish charts, and from 1988 to about 1995 were hugely successful in Ireland.
America was our main market, we toured the US 14 times, two of which were of three-month durations. We signed to Charisma Records there and later Iguana. We toured with Warren Zevon both as his band and opening act. The UK was difficult for us, but we enjoyed success in Switzerland, Holland and Belgium where Parachute was a top three hit and helped us play a sold out Ancienne Belgique!
As touring winded down, I moved into radio which has been my main career ever since. Initially this was with TodayFM, Ireland’s biggest commercial radio station. I set up a show called Pet Sounds which was the first to really challenge the state broadcaster RTE’s dominance in that market.
This was a magic time in Irish radio with sessions from people like Glen Hansard, BellX1, Sinead O’Connor, Damien Rice, Damien Dempsey, and Gemma Hayes. There were also interviews with people like Paul McCartney, Brian Wilson, Nick Cave, Oasis, Radiohead, Kylie, Beyonce, Iggy Pop, Sting, and a young Bic Runga!
The Show Pet Sounds became the leading influential music show on radio. CDs from the show, Tom Dunne’s 30 Best Irish Hits, Vols 1 and 2 were 7x times Platinum. There was also a TV show too called Planet Rock Profiles which I wrote and presented for about five year.
Subsequently I moved into Talk Radio on NewstalkFM, Ireland’s biggest commercial talk station. I presented a flagship morning news and entertainment show – The Tom Dunne Show- for five years. I continue to present talk shows and the station’s sole music show championing new artists like CMAT, Fontaines DC, Phoebe Bridgers et al.,
I write weekly columns for The Sunday Times and the Irish Examiner. I also still perform and write both with Something Happens and with my friend Fiachna O’Braonain from Hot House Flowers. I am very much still involved at the coalface of Irish Music.