Mr. Simon Taylor:

I thank the Vice Chairman. It was simply to revert to the point asked by Senator Mac Conghail on the challenges the operation of the concert hall faces, being both a public service and a commercial organisation. To a large extent, this cuts to the very core of this proposed legislation because it is a tricky one on which to get the right balance, as I believe everyone recognises. However, we are in a special place in being a national cultural institution while at the same time having as significant a commercial operation as we do. We have all exercised quite a lot of time in trying to find a perfect model for this and this process is showing up that we still have a little bit of work to do in this regard.

For us, the challenge is that, obviously, we welcome and absolutely endorse the public service remit we have in supporting the musical life and fabric of the country. However, we also recognise we must operate in a way that is on a good business footing. In trying to make decisions on what is the statutory provision, therefore by nature of this we must have a good deal of independence of operation to make the necessary business decisions that also would help to support the public service remit of the hall. I do not perceive the two things as being mutually antagonistic in any way. To a large extent, our successful commercial operation helps to underpin further our success in delivering the public service remit. We must find the right balance and if this legislation can help us to achieve this more effectively than our current model, then we all would welcome it.