Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 7:

In page 12, after line 41, to insert the following:“(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1) the Minister may, with the agreement of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, delegate authority to the Board in respect of such and so many persons to be members of the staff of the National Concert Hall and the grading of such staff, having regard to the financial resources available to the National Concert Hall.”.

This amendment seeks to insert a new subsection (2) in section 19. The basis for this amendment is that the Bill, as currently drafted, is modelled on the strict staffing controls exercised by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform on Civil Service staff numbers and grading. This is inappropriate and fundamentally deficient in the case of a State body which earns the vast bulk of its income from commercial activity - selling concert tickets and hiring out its premises. It is my understanding that up to 75% of the National Concert Hall's income comes from trading activity and it is a dangerous noose around the organisation's neck to tie it so closely to the practices and controls of bodies that are wholly funded by the State. The amendment I have proposed would enable the Minister, having due regard to the financial position of the National Concert Hall, to confer delegated authority on the board to manage its staffing affairs. This is not a carte blanchebut a balanced proposal which retains appropriate ministerial oversight while enabling the board to staff the concert hall, having regard to its financial capabilities and trading needs.

This goes to the nub of the earlier conversations in which we engaged. The Minister says that she wants to empower, enable and facilitate the concert hall and its board to get on and do its business and I say that is a good idea. However, in terms of its staffing, the legislation as drafted does not appear to allow it to do that. I say that we need to have ministerial oversight but the Minister was not too enthusiastic about that a few minutes ago. I am now saying that we should empower the board to recruit the staff that the organisation needs and to appoint them at the grades it deems appropriate in order that the concert hall can function and be as commercially viable as possible. We should do that with the prudent degree of ministerial oversight that my amendment envisages.

The Minister has not accepted any of my amendments thus far. Indeed, one wonders what is the point of tabling amendments to any legislation if none of them are ever going to be accepted. I would argue that this particular proposal has merit and that the Minister should consider it and take it on board.

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