National Concert Hall involved in controversy over Alan Shatter Israeli charity fundraiser

The National Concert Hall (NCH) has been involved in a controversy over Alan Shatter's Israeli charity fundraiser.

The former Fine Gael minister for justice, who had engagements with an NCH official, booked an MDA (Magen David Adom) charity event for the John Field room, next to the main auditorium.

Another NCH official then revoked the booking on the basis that the national cultural institution is politically neutral. In response, Shatter challenged the cancellation, accusing the concert hall of being disingenuous and insisting he had a booking.

Currently, the event is set to proceed after the NCH board have discussed the case with the Department of Culture.

Shatter is a prominent member of the Jewish community and chairman of the Irish branch of MDA, which runs ambulance services in Israel, recognised by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Asked about the matter, Shatter told the Irish Times he has "no comment to make on any of it, no comment at all".

The concert hall said its facilities are available for private hire as well as publicly programmed artistic activity.

"Following 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," said the NCH in a statement.

"This decision was reviewed by senior management and the board ... and the event will now proceed as originally scheduled."

MDA Ireland, overseen by the Charities Regulator in Dublin, are to raise money for their work in Israel to provide "a voluntary ambulance service, medical care and treatment for persons irrespective of their nationality, race, religion, ethnic origin, age, disability, sexual orientation or political affiliation," according to their website.

The most recent publicly available accounts for the Irish branch show that "donations rose sharply to €70,563" in the 12 months between June 2023 and 2024, reported the Irish Times.

In a Sunday, March 29 statement on MDA Ireland's website, Shatter thanked emergency appeal donors, saying:

"Since the start of the war with Iran, MDA has been engaged 24/7 throughout Israel in its life-saving work."

The news follows Shatter's December 2025 RTÉ News statement, where he claimed that the Irish government is "directly complicit" in the escalation of anti-Semitism in Ireland, comparing pro-Palestine protest chants to 1930s Nazi Germany "depictions".

UPDATE: In the original of this article, reference was made to historical controversies that had arisen in relation to Alan Shatter’s time as a Minister for Justice and Equality and Minister for Defence, between 9 March 2011 and 7 May 2014. The relevant paragraph has since been deleted. Hot Press is very happy to make it clear that there was no wrongdoing whatsoever on the part of Alan Shatter during his time as Minister, and that he was fully vindicated in a series of inquiries in respect of all of the allegations that had been made against him. Indeed, these matters were covered at length in an extensive interview, run by Hot Press in 2017, at the time of the publication of Alan Shatter’s memoir, Life Is A Funny Business – which can be read in full HERE. This interview took place before the final Supreme Court judgement in relation to the contents of the Guerin Inquiry, which was delivered in February 2019. Alan Shatter was again fully vindicated, with the Supreme Court judging that his constitutional rights had been violated by the Guerin Inquiry.