Ms Maura McGrath:

I was honoured when I was contacted by the Minister and asked whether I would accept the position of chair designate of the newly-appointed board of the National Concert Hall given that it had recently been established as a statutory body with a new board. I hope that after this short reprise today, I can give the committee some sense of why it is fundamentally important.

My motivation for seeking an appointment in the first instance arose not just recently but from a very firm belief in the importance of music throughout all the stages of people's lives. If I can give further commitment, devotion and passion to that, this would be very significant. In respect of governance, which I know is part of the essential requirement, I have extensive board governance experience across all sectors and have had quite a few involvements in school, sport and culture-related situations as well as more local situations. More particularly, I served on the outgoing board for its final 18 months in the lead up to the legislation, which gave me a deep understanding of the challenges. However, it did not quench my appetite in terms of wanting to come forward. I think all members of the committee know that the National Concert Hall occupies a unique place in the cultural landscape, not just of Dublin, but of the entire country. We want to expand and develop this further and make everybody proud of such an important and iconic venue.

I know some people are always interested in details and, naturally, today is no different. The turnover of the National Concert Hall is €7 million per year, of which 70% comes from our own activities and 30% comes from grant-in-aid. It is important to point out it was this model that allowed us to continue as a vibrant organisation even in the teeth of recession so we are grateful for that. It was not without its challenges for the senior team and the chief executive officer, CEO, but the quality in terms of performance did not deteriorate, although perhaps the facilities have become a bit worn and tired.

The unique role of the National Concert Hall in our national cultural landscape has been underpinned by the legislation passed last year. We are grateful for the duality of confidence that everybody showed across both Houses in supporting that. The legislation commits us to be seen worldwide as one of the great venues for music while playing a pivotal role in the music and cultural life of the Irish nation. As members are aware, we have been home to the RTE National Symphony Orchestra in recent years. Not unlike other European cities that have brought together synergistic cultural organisations - with Bilbao being a particular example - concentrating and having similar organisations resident in the National Concert Hall is very important for us and we want to develop that.

I am conscious of time but just as my colleague here has said, 2022 will be important for us. We are very conscious of the historic attachment of the National Concert Hall to Earlsfort Terrace where the previous treaty was signed. We are delighted to say that the refurbishment of that room, which is now known as the Kevin Barry room, has taken place. That was the first major refurbishment in quite a while. It is worth a visit if members have not been there.

That addresses the current situation. The venue hosts over 1,000 events every year. It is almost a 365 operation. As a result of that, it is obviously going to need significant refurbishment but having said that, we had an audience last year of over 320,000, which is very significant from a participant and patron point of view. It will not be any surprise to the committee to hear that the development and refurbishment of the National Concert Hall is a priority for me as chair designate, the board and the senior management team. Specifically, we are looking at the refurbishment of the main auditorium, which is currently a 1,200-seater. Priorities include an additional 500-seat space for further recitals, a dedicated education centre and rehearsal space for the RTE National Symphony Orchestra, improving public access because we want to be more diverse and participative to include all audiences and, more particularly, ensuring we have the proper infrastructure to facilitate digital distribution for our concert and education work, which is a Government strategy and is of primary importance to us given other educational and artistic endeavours. We are aware this will require a major capital investment but we feel that as a national cultural institution, it is appropriate that we should look in the first instance to the State. However, we also will look at other activities of sponsors and benefactors that we will enlist and enrol in that effort, in the same way we will enlist and enrol in broader audience participation as part of that. We are also working with the OPW, which played a significant role in the refurbishment of the Kevin Barry room, on a master plan to look at what can be done to develop a centre for music with international standing of which we will all be proud.

The ambition of the new board is to see the full potential of the National Concert Hall come to fruition over the next five years leading up to 2022. With the refurbishment plans complete, we believe it will be a musical centre with international standing of which we will all be proud. In addition, we like to think that we would have an outreach beyond Dublin so that we would be able to touch, enlist, enrol and invite other audiences of all ages. We think that is a fundamental remit under the Act. Moreover, we will broaden our audience beyond through the digital initiatives. I hope it will be a centre worth visiting even for people who might not be of a musical persuasion. If one looks at some other iconic venues throughout the world, one will see that sometimes someone will visit the Sydney Opera House or La Scala, Milan, just for the sense of being there. We are looking forward to our main auditorium being resplendently refurbished. Our CEO is working with the OPW on a very detailed and granular plan for that. Above all, the aspiration is to be seen as a worldwide venue, one of the great venues for music, of which we can all be proud. It may appear to be strategic and ambitious - and it is - but as William Shakespeare said, in dreams come responsibility. The board will not be found wanting with regard to rigorous governance and careful management of all that is invested in us.