Mr. Niall Ó Donnchú:

Taking up the points raised by Senator Naughton, head 11 is the one she was referring to, it is based on section 15 of the National Cultural Institutions Act which contains a similar provision, as does the Arts Council Act. Section 15 of the National Cultural Institution Act requires that an order conferring similar functions should be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas in draft form and subject to a motion approving the draft.That may be an option but I would not disagree with the general consensus emerging here today, which is valuable to have.
In regard to the pay issue, we cannot have it both ways per se, subject to what I was saying earlier about flexibility, and as Senator Mac Conghail calls it, being able to respond to market forces. If one is in the public sector, one is subject to public sector pay constraints and that means approval by the Minister subject to the approval of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. We are working through that policy point around nimbleness and so on. Already the National Concert Hall is able to act flexibly in terms of bringing in some casual staff to deal with particular pressures. The important aspect in the context of legislation is that we do not put in place something that is restrictive. We have to be very wary of unintended consequences.

It is important we do not put in place something that is restrictive and does not enable that. We have to be very wary of unintended consequences.