Former arts minister Humphreys urges Government to consider Arts Council reform

Heather Humphreys said the new Government could examine the legislation underpinning the Arts Council as a potential avenue for reform. Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Former arts minister Heather Humphreys has urged the Government to consider reforms to the structure of the Arts Council, after revelations that the organisation spent €6.7m on an IT system that was never delivered.

The former Fine Gael minister said the new Government could examine the legislation underpinning the Arts Council as a potential avenue for reform.

A review of culture and governance at the Arts Council is to take place after it came to light that the IT project, which was initially due to cost €3m and spiralled to more than double that, was never completed, having been deemed not fit for purpose.

Ms Humphreys said that she was “disappointed” to see so much public money wasted.

“Maybe we need to look at the structure and how it’s set up,” Ms Humphreys said, adding that the Arts Council is a body independent of government.

She said that, during her tenure as arts minister, the Arts Council would be provided with funds, before the organisation itself decided how to spend it.

There was no ministerial interference in any shape or form and they certainly protected their independence in every which way.

Asked if sitting Arts Minister Patrick O’Donovan needed to examine the structure of the organisation, Ms Humphreys said: “Maybe they need to look at the powers and responsibilities of the Arts Council, to make sure that they comply with all of the public spending codes as well as everybody else.

“This is a very serious issue, it’s a lot of money involved here,” she added.

They just have to get to the bottom of it to find out exactly what happened, what went wrong, and people are going to have to answer questions.

Ms Humphreys compared it to a controversy that engulfed the credit union sector in the early 2000s, after a plan to develop a major IT system for Irish branches failed and cost tens of millions.

It comes as the Department of Arts and Culture confirmed that former minister, Catherine Martin, was made aware of the IT project last July.

In a statement, a department spokesperson said: “The Minister was informed in July 2024 of the difficulties relating to the Arts Council’s IT project, and that the Secretary General had initiated an internal review.”

Mr O’Donovan was informed about the internal review on taking up office last month, while the document was published on Wednesday.

The internal report identifies that the Arts Council did not provide the full costs to the Department of Arts and Culture, while the department failed to interrogate these issues when the project was initially proposed.

It adds that while the Arts Council informed the Department about additional budgets for the IT project, it did not seek approval for these budgets.