{"id":372591,"date":"2026-03-30T07:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T07:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/372591\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T07:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T07:17:08","slug":"national-concert-hall-embroiled-in-row-over-alan-shatter-fundraiser-for-israeli-charity-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/372591\/","title":{"rendered":"National Concert Hall embroiled in row over Alan Shatter fundraiser for Israeli charity \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The National Concert Hall<\/a> (NCH) is embroiled in a row after accepting, revoking and then reinstating a booking from former Fine Gael<\/a> minister for justice Alan Shatter<\/a> to host a private fundraising event for the Irish branch of an Israeli<\/a> ambulance charity. <\/p>\n

The disputed event is now set to proceed on an unconfirmed date, but only after NCH board talks and discussions with Irish diplomats and the Department of Culture.<\/p>\n

Minister for Culture Patrick O\u2019Donovan<\/a> is understood to be annoyed at the way the matter was handled by the concert hall, which said it \u201cmisunderstood\u201d the nature of the charity but has since changed its stance. <\/p>\n

The affair comes against the backdrop of sustained tension between the Republic and Israel over the mounting civilian death toll from Israel\u2019s war<\/a> on Gaza<\/a>, triggered by the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023. Israel and the US<\/a> went to war against Iran<\/a> one month ago, sparking regional tensions that have led to thousands of deaths and rocked oil markets and the global economy.<\/p>\n

Shatter, a prominent member of the Jewish community, is chairman of the Irish branch of Magen David Adom (MDA), which runs ambulance services in Israel and is recognised by the International Committee of the Red Cross. <\/p>\n

Shatter had engagements with an NCH official and booked the MDA event for the John Field room, next to the main auditorium.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer Fine Gael minister Alan Shatter. Photograph: Stephen Collins\/Collins <\/p>\n

Another NCH official subsequently revoked the booking on the basis that the national cultural institution was politically neutral. Shatter then challenged the cancellation, accusing the concert hall of being disingenuous and insisting he had a booking. <\/p>\n

Although the event is back in the concert hall diary, the date on which it is to take place remains unclear. Shatter declined to answer questions when contacted, saying he was gardening. <\/p>\n

\u201cI really have no comment to make on any of it, no comment at all,\u201d he said. \u201cMy focus is on relaxation.\u201d <\/p>\n

Asked about the row, the concert hall said it makes its facilities available for private hire alongside publicly programmed artistic activity. <\/p>\n

\u201cMagen David Adom Ireland [MDA Ireland], officially recognised by the International Committee of the Red Cross, has hired the John Field Room for a private fundraising event,\u201d said the National Concert Hall in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing initial correspondence, the NCH misunderstood the nature of MDA Ireland and advised that the event could not proceed, as the NCH does not host political events,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision was reviewed by senior management and the board … and the event will now proceed as originally scheduled.\u201d<\/p>\n

A senior Coalition source said there was some displeasure within the Government at the way the NCH had, \u201cof its own volition\u201d, stirred problems in this way. \u201cThe event is going ahead. There is no barrier.\u201d<\/p>\n

The objectives of MDA Ireland, which is overseen by the Charities Regulator in Dublin, are to raise money for the group\u2019s work in Israel to provide \u201ca voluntary ambulance service, medical care and treatment for persons irrespective of their nationality, race, religion, ethnic origin, age, disability, sexual orientation or political affiliation\u201d.<\/p>\n

The most recent publicly available accounts for the Irish branch show donations and legacies rose sharply to \u20ac70,563 in the 12 months to June 2024, the financial period in which the October 2023 Hamas attack claimed 1,200 Israeli lives. It raised \u20ac16,364 the previous year.<\/p>\n

In a Sunday statement on MDA Ireland\u2019s website, Shatter thanked emergency appeal donors. \u201cSince the start of the war with Iran, MDA has been engaged 24\/7 throughout Israel in its life-saving work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The National Concert Hall (NCH) is embroiled in a row after accepting, revoking and then reinstating a booking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[106623,147595,3775,3409,42,11829,3410,3411,116442,43,40,38,41,39,115],"class_list":["post-372591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-alan-shatter","tag-department-of-culture-communications-and-sport","tag-fine-gael","tag-gaza-strip","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-israel-hamas-conflict","tag-national-concert-hall","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}