Mr. John O'Kane:

The bulk of the people is made up by the musicians. In the division that I am involved with there are two orchestras, the RTE National Symphony Orchestra and the RTE Concert Orchestra. They have 81 and 45 musicians respectively. There is also a quartet. This makes a total of approximately 130 full-time, professional musicians, and then there is some support staff which takes the figure close to about 150. They are not all involved in the NCH but it is a very close relationship.

There is a particularly close relationship with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra, NSO, the larger of the two ensembles. That is because that orchestra rehearses in the NCH as well as giving concerts there. It is very much based there and in fact the strapline the Hall uses is that it is "the home of the RTE National Symphony Orchestra", which I think is a fair account of it. The orchestra rehearses there and gives concerts there, and its support staff are housed there. We rent offices and storage facilities, and so on, so we have a strong physical presence in the NCH and it is a matter of our daily business. It affects everything at all levels within the two organisations, so there is continuous contact between ourselves and the NCH at management level, at the level of the musicians and the production staff within the Hall, and at the level of the broadcasting teams. Many people in both organisations work very closely together on a daily basis as part of this relationship.