Mr. Niall Ó Donnchú:

Again, I can say that by going back to the principles on which this exercise is grounded, it was not the intention for the Minister in any way to step into the curatorial and artistic functions of the board or the director of the National Concert Hall, or any cultural institution for that matter. The policy direction provision which Senator Mac Conghail raised is based on section 5(3) of the Arts Act 2003, in which the arm’s length principle is also grounded in a separate part of the Act. None the less, that is where it stems from. We are discussing the general scheme of the Bill and if the position needs to be clarified further then it is open to the committee to ask that it would be done.