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

I am delighted to have an opportunity to say a few words on this Bill and to congratulate my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Heather Humphreys, on bringing it to fruition. Some Deputies will recall that when I served as Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, I initiated a whole programme of public service reform and, in November 2011, announced a number of initiatives.

That related to governance, including the streamlining of boards, enforcement of curatorial independence, shared supports and statutory underpinning. I commend the various cultural institutions for embracing change and sharing aspects of their work, such as human resources, legal services, and marketing. They have responded very positively, despite the economic, financial and budgetary challenges. They made major savings by implementing those proposals. One of those underpinning objectives was to place the National Concert Hall on a statutory footing, and on 26 February 2014 I brought this to Cabinet, which authorised the drafting of the heads of this Bill.

I congratulate the current Minister, Deputy Heather Humphreys, on bringing the Bill to the House. From what I have heard, all sides of the House have welcomed it. I did not hear Deputy McLellan’s contribution but I heard Deputy Ó Fearghaíl’s. It is very important that it be given as speedy a passage as possible through the House, because it is not contentious and makes perfect sense.

I acknowledge the work of the board of the National Concert Hall, especially the chairman, Gerry Kearney, whom I appointed at a very challenging time. This time last year I appointed Micheál Ó Súilleabháin, Maura McGrath, Barney Whelan and Rebecca Gageby, who have made a great contribution to the board. I appointed the previous board too, and I thank them for their contribution. This contribution is reflected by the fact that 2014 was a very good year for the National Concert Hall, despite its financial challenges.

Apart from its artistic merit, which is recognised locally and globally, the National Concert Hall is a critical part of the tourism infrastructure in the centre of Dublin. It provides world-class entertainment for the many hotels in its vicinity. The Minister mentioned that it was worth €38 million to the economy last year. It was probably worth even more than that. It is a critical part of our tourism offering, as well as part of our cultural and artistic offering. Since its establishment in 1981, when it was opened by President Hillery, it has made a huge contribution to the cultural life of this country. We cannot emphasise that enough.

I organised four major fund-raising events there and got absolute co-operation from Judith Woodworth and Rosita Wolfe. They have contributed not only to their own programme but to the community. I saw the benefit of that in various projects.

I am delighted that the project for the commemoration of the 1916 Rising is going ahead. The Kevin Barry Rooms are where the treaty debates took place. That is a very important part of our history. I am delighted the Minister has made this one of the seven major projects for the commemorations. It will be ready for December 2021, the anniversary of the very contentious but historic treaty debates. Work will commence shortly on that and on the front of house. This will expose the stairway, which is of architectural significance.

I congratulate the Minister and her officials - Kevin Lonergan, who is here today, Niall Ó Donnchú and Feargal Ó Coigligh - who are all great officials. Working with them was a pleasure when I was in that Department. Despite the challenge to resources, some very important initiatives were developed at that time and are being continued under the leadership of the present Minister. Today I was in Glasnevin for a discussion of the national landscape strategy. The policy on that was recently announced, which is another achievement, doing something significant with limited resources. We have been waiting years for it.

The Bill provides for appropriate reporting to the Minister and the Oireachtas and will streamline the accounting process and give it a statutory basis. There was some controversy about this reform, including a Private Members' motion. The gallery was full of very concerned people. I had to deal with an bord snip nua, which proposed the amalgamation of the three art galleries and the scrapping of the Irish Film Board and the Heritage Council. All of these were recommended by the McCarthy report, which was begun and embraced by the previous government. We had to review all that. This Bill is one result of that review. I am very glad we are discussing it today, because it also gives us an opportunity to consider the arts in general and allows Members to make contributions on the arts.

Music is thriving, despite the shortage of financial resources. I have seen on my travels in different parts of the world that traditional music, which the National Concert Hall supports, is thriving, not only in Irish communities but in multicultural communities. There is a big demand from other communities who want to participate in Irish music events. This is a positive day.

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