Tom Dunne: Iain Archer is the ideal man to bring the Ivors Academy to Ireland

The former Snow Patrol member has written some brilliant songs through the years

Iain Archer in his Snow Patrol days at the Ivor Novello Awards 2005 in London. Picture: Gareth Davies/Getty Images.

Thu, 19 Feb, 2026 - 06:00

Tom Dunne is a music-lover extraordinaire who, as well as presenting radio and TV shows, can also be seen in the wild as the lead singer with Something Happens.

Oxegen Festival: 2004. Over two days, for live radio, there are numerous interviews and intimate acoustic sessions from Franz Ferdinand, Elbow, BellX1, and many more. But it’s Iain Archer I remember. He did Summer Jets from his album Flood the Tanks.

Acoustic sessions, the simpler the better, are wonderful things. The intimacy, the sense of getting a peek behind the curtain, the song stripped back to its core. I remember Christy Moore doing John O’ Dreams once. It was like the world just went still.