Mr. Gerry Kearney:

On behalf of the National Concert Hall, I welcome this invitation to contribute to the committee’s deliberations on the general scheme of the national cultural institutions (National Concert Hall) Bill 2014.

The proposed legislation presents an opportunity to establish in law the national standing of the National Concert Hall and to put it on an equal footing with other national statutory cultural bodies. Significantly, we also believe the legislation offers the potential to strengthen the hall's mandate and organisational capacity. It can further serve to secure its position as a cultural asset of national importance and considerable international standing, as well as providing a foundation for its further development as the national centre of excellence for the performance of music.

The National Concert Hall has both a public service and commercial remit.

This context is one in which we must seek to balance the public interest role of the hall as the national venue with the challenges of conducting much of the operations in a commercial environment. This blend of public service and commercial activity is well reflected by the breakdown of the hall's direct income for 2013. In that year, two thirds or €4.563 million of the direct income was derived from our own income generating activities, while one third or €2.33 million was received from the State by way of a grant-in-aid. Our self-generated income includes diverse elements such as ticket sales, charges and commissions on the hire of the hall to external promoters, rental income from RTE in respect of the residency by the symphony orchestra, income from the catering and bar franchise, membership fees, corporate associates, commercial sponsorship, advertising and philanthropy. Against the background of these competing demands, we believe that the legislation should provide a clear mandate for the concert hall through the articulation of its statutory functions, well aligned with governance provisions appropriate to its commercial challenges.

By way of supporting the work of the committee, it might be helpful if I spoke briefly about the work undertaken to date by the NCH and our recommendations on areas in these proposals that we see as being of particular significance. Following publication of the general scheme, the board of the National Concert Hall established a sub-committee of its members to review the matter and identify areas of particular strategic interest. The sub-committee met on a number of occasions and presented its views to the board meeting at end July 2014. Following discussion, the board agreed an approach in what it saw as a number of key heads and provisions of the proposed Bill. These views were subsequently advised to the Department in early August. We are happy to bring these to the attention of the committee and to discuss them further with it.

At executive level, operational matters have been the subject of review and input by the senior management team and views thereon have also been provided to the Department. Consultations are continuing and the Department presented to the board at its meeting on Thursday last, both on the context for the legislation and responding to particular proposals that we had put to the Department in August.

There was a small number of heads within the general scheme that we identified at board level as of particular significance. These broadly concern the functions of the National Concert Hall in terms of clarity regarding the purpose for which the hall is to be established on a statutory basis and the powers and functions of the board in support of the achievement and delivery of those functions, financial matters, staffing, and the establishment of subsidiaries. In brief, our focus in regard to the functions of the NCH and powers of the board is to set out the rich diversity of our work and to equip the board to secure its delivery. Our purpose in regard to the financial and staffing areas is to secure discretions and responsibilities appropriate to the commercial environment in which much of our work is undertaken. With regard to subsidiaries, we seek provision with respect to the establishment of these in furtherance of the objects of the National Concert Hall and subject to appropriate ministerial governance controls. Our ultimate purpose, therefore, is a legislative and governance framework that it clear, appropriate and congruent with the particular context and challenges of the NCH.

For completeness, draft recommendations on these heads, as previously forwarded to the Department, were provided to the committee by way of an appendix. We readily acknowledge that the language of the final text of the Bill will express quite differently the content of the heads themselves.

We believe that the establishment of the National Concert Hall on a statutory basis offers a unique platform to build on the hall's significant achievements over the last 30 years and can also serve to advance the opportunities that exist to develop the National Concert Hall to its full potential in the public interest. We are happy to meet the committee this afternoon and to support the committee in its consideration of the general scheme.