Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to avail of this opportunity to address the House on the governance and future of the National Concert Hall. The National Concert Hall is one of our most important cultural institutions and one dearly beloved by both the Irish public and international visitors to Ireland. Over the course of 2013, more than 300,000 people attended almost 950 events at the National Concert Hall. This underlines the importance of the National Concert Hall as the most important venue in the State for musical performance of the highest standard.

As part of the process of reform at a range of institutions, including the national cultural institutions, the Government recently considered the governance position at the National Concert Hall. Since establishment in 1981, the National Concert Hall has operated as a company limited by guarantee. On 25 February 2014 the Government approved my proposal to place the National Concert Hall on a statutory footing, similar to other national cultural institutions. I informed the board of the National Concert Hall of this development when I addressed the board on Wednesday, 9 April.

Since then, the Government has also approved the draft heads of a Bill to place the National Concert Hall on this statutory basis, and legislative drafting work in relation to this will be prioritised. The draft heads of Bill on this proposal will shortly be submitted to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht for parliamentary scrutiny.

The decision to place the National Concert Hall on a statutory footing mirrors similar decisions taken by the Government last year in respect of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, IMMA, which also operated as a company limited by guarantee since establishment.

This legislation is very important for a number of reasons, chief among them being that the next board of the National Concert Hall will have absolute clarity in respect of the position on all governance and operational issues at the National Concert Hall.

As a statutory body, and in line with good governance, the NCH will be required to prepare and adopt a statement of strategy, submit progress reports, and will also be required to prepare an annual business plan, to be submitted as appropriate to the Minister and the Oireachtas. This is in common with the changes being proposed for other national cultural institutions.

As a statutory body, the National Concert Hall will have enhanced capacity to engage in fund-raising. This again is common to other national cultural institutions which are already established as statutory bodies and which have strong fund-raising programmes.

To prepare for the change in governance arrangements at the National Concert Hall, I have made a number of changes to the board. Mr. Kieran Tobin was chair until April 2013, at which point he stepped down from the role at that time for personal reasons. He has decided not to resume the position of chair, but will remain on the board to help in the development of the National Concert Hall in the period ahead.

Ms Margaret Ryan took on the role of chair in April 2013 to replace Mr. Tobin. This was always intended to be for a short term. She has stepped down from the board of the National Concert Hall to focus entirely on her role with Fáilte Ireland. The Government has since approved my proposal to appoint a new chair to the board of the National Concert Hall.

This new chair is Mr. Gerry Kearney, retired Secretary General of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. Mr. Kearney will take the position as chair, with no fee payable, on an interim basis until the new legislation has been enacted.

I have also appointed four new board members to replace the board members who stepped down on 9 April: Ms Maura McGrath has over 20 years' experience working at senior management and executive levels in the private and public sectors, and also not-for-profit organisations in Ireland and abroad; Mr. Barney Whelan is director of communications and corporate affairs at An Post; Mr. Micheál Ó Súilleabháin is a pianist, composer, recording artist and academic, who holds the professorship of music at the Irish World Music Academy of Music and Dance based at the University of Limerick; and, Ms Rebecca Gageby is head of programmes and administration at the Royal Irish Academy.

The coming period will be one of change at the National Concert Hall. The legislative reforms that we have planned for this institution will greatly enhance it for performers, staff and the public who visit the National Concert Hall each year. I am very positive abou+t the future of this institution. I want to take this opportunity to thank the board of the National Concert Hall for its help and support in making this Ireland's leading venue for the highest standards in musical performance.

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