Department of Arts spent €3.2m on external consultants over two years, Dáil told

Arts Minister Patrick O'Donovan would not comment on the nature of the €3.2m spend, saying it would 'not be appropriate' to do so because of 'reasons of operational and national security'.

The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport, and Media spent more than €3.2m on unnamed external IT consultancies in just two years, new figures reveal.

Some €1.44m was spent in 2023 on outside consultants, with an additional €1.7m paid out in 2024. 

The news comes amid the controversy over the Arts Council, which falls under the remit of the department, spent nearly €7m on an IT system which was never delivered. 

The latest figures were contained in a parliamentary response supplied by Arts Minister Patrick O’Donovan to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly. They also show €48,237 has been spent by the department on outside IT consultants so far in 2025.

The minister would not be drawn, however, on the nature of the €3.2m spend, saying it would “not be appropriate” to do so because of “reasons of operational and national security”.

“Any information in relation to cyber security tools and services could assist criminals in identifying any potential vulnerabilities in cybersecurity arrangements,” Mr O'Donovan said.

Therefore it is not considered appropriate to disclose any such information or make comment which could in any way compromise my department’s cyber security or impact upon wider Government. 

Large-scale spending on external IT consultancy is not uncommon in Government. The Department of Justice spent €6.9 in 2024, €4.9m of which was paid to Capita Business Support Services, responses also released to Mr Farrelly show.

Separately, the Department of Public Expenditure spent €25.5m in 2024 on such consultancies, with the largest single bill being with a company called Globallogic Software for €6.7m.

The Department of Agriculture, meanwhile, spent €65m on IT consultancies in 2024, some €32m of which went to Version 1 for the delivery of various payments schemes to farmers, among other things.

However, each of these departments gave a breakdown of the companies with whom they had spent that money, in contrast with the refusal of the Department of Arts to do so.

At the Department ofFinance, just €438,000 was spent over the three years between 2022 and 2024.

The Department of the Taoiseach likewise spent just €189,000 in external IT expenditure in 2024.

Meanwhile, the review of culture and governance at the Arts Council is to take place after it came to light the failed 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.

Former arts minister Heather Humphreys has urged the Government to consider reforms to the structure of the Arts Council, after the revelations regarding the scrapped project came to light.

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

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

It has now separately emerged former arts minister Catherine Martin, who lost her Dáil seat in last November’s election, was aware of the debacle surrounding the Arts Council IT project as far back as last summer.