Willie O’Dea says Government to blame for Limerick arts crisis

The Government have been partially blamed for causing the crisis at Limerick’s City of Culture due to a delay in funds going to projects and amid calls for the arts minister to intervene.

However, as the fallout continued over resignations from the project, Arts Minister Jimmy Deenihan was preparing to enter talks with Limerick city chiefs and the remaining members of the city of culture’s board.

Fianna Fáil TD Willie O’Dea said people in the city were “bewildered, shocked, and horrified”. He also put the blame for the crisis on the Coalition. The local TD said a delay in funding for the arts project had meant that City of Culture chairman Pat Cox had very little time to appoint a CEO for the project.