Ms Orlaith McBride:

The Senator raises a number of questions. As part of the funding for our strategically funded organisations, they will now have to confirm that they have gender equality policies in place. Regarding governance structures in the context of gender equality, the Arts Council's membership, under the council's legislation, must be at least 50% female. The last three directors of the Arts Council have been female, so in terms of the culture of our organisation, there is probably gender inequality on the other side. Last night the Arts Council hosted a reception for 24 next-generation artists, as we call them. These are artists who are just starting out in their careers and to whom we have made a bursary. They will all come together for a week in Annaghmakerrig next year. As an aside, of the 24 artists, 18 were women.

All organisations in receipt of recurring funding from the Arts Council must demonstrate very clearly that they have proper governance procedures in place. We insist that all organisations sign up to a transparency code, which clearly asks organisations to publish on their websites information as it relates to their boards, their accounts, etc.

We developed a practical guide for board members of arts organisations in 2015. We have also developed a suite of other governance documents, such as constitutions, etc., to support organisations. After we published the guide, we held a governance seminar to support organisations so that they could have their own houses in order in terms of proper governance procedures and policies. We insist that organisations very clearly demonstrate that they have proper governance procedures, etc., in place. That is then tied in to our conditions of funding.