Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 30 September 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht

National Cultural Institutions (National Concert Hall) Bill 2014: Discussion

3:15 pm

Mr. Niall Ó Donnchú:

The Deputy asked whether these proposals are an attempt to make the National Concert Hall more dependent on the private sector. That is absolutely not the case. The purpose of the Bill is to update the governance framework within which the National Concert Hall operates. The special purpose vehicle that was established more than 30 years ago is no longer appropriate to the workings of a national cultural institution. The Bill sets out to apply an up-to-date statutory framework to the functions of the National Concert Hall. It is not an attempt to make it more dependent on the private sector. In fact, these provisions will ensure its future statutorily as a cultural institution, giving it more certainty than it has right now. There is no suggestion whatsoever in anything that is proposed here that would push it in the direction of more of its funding coming from the private sector.

What is envisaged is a complex funding model, as set out by Mr. Kearney. Unlike some of the other institutions, it involves a mixture of revenue streams, including from ticket sales and sponsorship, some income from philanthropy and partnerships, and one third coming from the public purses. That mix may vary in future, but we do not envisage a significant change in the level of public sector support. The purpose of the subsidiaries is to give the institution the flexibility into the future to move with the times and engage in third-party partnerships and other fund-raising activities.

The Deputy's second question was about the terms and conditions of employees. The staff of the National Concert Hall will remain within the public sector and transfer on the terms and conditions they currently enjoy. Mr. Kearney referred to a discussion that has been going back and forth between him and the Department around the flexibility which should be afforded the National Concert Hall, given its remit within the commercial sector, to allow a measure of adjustability in terms of staffing and terms and conditions. That is a policy issue in terms of public pay and so on and is probably not best grounded within the legislation. We must be mindful of not putting in place anything that is restrictive and would not allow the institution to capture those types of opportunities.

Just to confirm, staff in the National Concert Hall will transfer on the pay and conditions that they have at the moment. That is provided for very specifically in the legislation. I referred to the memorandum and articles of the National Concert Hall which currently allows for 15 members. The proposal in the legislation is to bring that number to nine.

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