Gary Lightbody has admitted to being nervous as he appeared before Northern Ireland's assembly to urge members to support the previously reported Oh Yeah project, a scheme set to transform an old Belfast warehouse into a dedicated music centre for young musicians. Speaking to Stormont's Arts committee, he said: "I'm sorry but I'm a bit nervous. It's not very often musicians get to meet politicians and generally when we do we're asking for something. I'm sorry not to be bucking that trend".
The singer went on to explain that, having sunk a lot of their own money into the project, he and his band Snow Patrol would like to see the government give them a hand in finishing the programme. "We have given an awful lot of money, we've done an awful lot of fundraising and we've done an awful lot of charity work for this facility already", he said. Now it's time we got some help from government".