Labour is proposing 30 hours of free music tuition for every primary school student as part of a national cultural strategy.
The party's arts spokesman Jack Wall said yesterday the scheme was a practical measure "to encourage young people to become involved in the arts and to express their talents".
The party also proposed "new schemes for artist-led projects in primary and secondary schools" to involve younger people in arts and cultural activities.
The proposals are in a policy document, Arts 4 All, published by Labour yesterday. It emphasises arts education and community arts facilities, while also proposing a year-long "cultural inquiry" to examine Irish cultural life and contribute to developing a cultural strategy for Irish society.
Mr Wall drew attention to a recent Eurobarometer survey which had shown Irish people scoring very highly in terms of their experience of popular culture, but poorly in relation to their attendance at and participation in more "highbrow" art forms.
Out of 14 EU states, Ireland ranked first in terms of how many listened to radio every day or attended sports events, and second in terms of watching television and going to the cinema. However, we ranked ninth in terms of reading books and attending the theatre, and 12th in terms of listening to classical, jazz or blues music, dancing or going to a gallery or museum.
There was not enough emphasis in Ireland on creating a love of and attachment to the arts among young people, according to Labour.
"If we don't get a love at an early age for a discipline in life, it is very difficult to make that up later in life," Mr Wall said.
The chairman of the Labour Artists' group, Martin Murphy, said what artists needed most was multi-annual funding, whereby they would know what funding they were to receive for several years hence, not just for the next 12 months.
Labour's deputy leader Liz McManus would not be drawn on whether the party believed the exemption of artists' income from income tax should be restricted or even abolished. "If we are going to change something like that it needs a lot of argument and discussion.
"The fundamental principle underlying Labour's arts policy is that cultural participation is as important for our communities as good education and health, and that the opportunity to take part in the cultural life of your community should be a right for everyone, not just an accident of birth."