Fiach MacConghail (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I may appear to be a cynic but I acknowledge that one of the main concerns with the original draft of the Bill was around support for the National Concert Hall in particular because it is a quasi-commercial organisation and needs to consider how it derives its income from other sources. If memory serves, I think a great deal of its income comes from sources other than the State. During the pre-legislative scrutiny phase at the joint committee, of which I am a member, we spent quite a while looking at this. As such, I welcome section 28. It establishes that a lot of cultural organisations being funded through the taxpayer for artistic expression also have a commercial role whereby they must make money and attract income whether through merchandising, recordings and other commercial ventures.

I have two questions for clarification from the Minister on the section. Do the rules on employment in this area of commercial ventures include a restriction on public appointments? Do the rules on appointment impact directly on the commercial side? We know that through the austerity period there was a prohibition on recruiting key members of staff at all national cultural institutions. We know about the National Library. I congratulate the Minister on the announcement yesterday of the capital investment in that regard. It is much needed. There is a prohibition on keepers, curators and positions all across our national cultural institutions because of the cutbacks. My concern is whether section 28 makes it clear that the CEO of the National Concert Hall, or NCH, can employ people in subsidiaries, joint ventures and commercial activities, a requirement of which is that they ultimately support the overall mission of the body. Will the CEO need to go through the rigmarole of applying to the Minister's Department and then waiting for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to weigh in? In that case, six or eight months will have gone by before a person can be recruited. Senators Ó Murchú, Norris, Ó Clochartaigh and I have all been involved in commercial and artistic ventures where the Irish phrase "Tapaigh an deis" is in question. There is a moment when a recording must be done, a broadcast carried out or a tour arranged. Will the NCH be obliged to wait eight months for a piece of paper and for one Minister to talk to another? A year may go by and the opportunity to recruit may have passed. I want clarity and confirmation on that.

My second question is on income. If a national cultural institution makes money, it goes back to the Exchequer. That is the case with the National Library. Suddenly, there is no sign of it. Is there an incentive for the NCH to exploit, a term I use in a business sense, commercial opportunities to leverage the impact of cultural activity? If joint ventures or subsidiaries of the NCH are making money, can the NCH keep the profit to reinvest in its work or does it have to go the Exchequer, never to be seen again? If the money has to go back, that would disincentivise joint ventures or the leveraging of any commercial activity.