Review ordered after Arts Council spends €6.6m on IT system that was never delivered

A government source described Patrick O'Donovan as being 'incandescent' over the incident. File picture: Sasko Lazrov, Photocall Ireland

The Government has ordered a review into the culture and governance of the Arts Council after Cabinet was told of a €6.6m spend on an IT system that was never delivered.

Arts Minister Patrick O’Donovan confirmed that an external review would take place after internal examinations by his department were completed earlier this year. He was first made aware of the issue when he took up office two weeks ago.

Mr O’Donovan updated Cabinet on the matter on Wednesday, with one government source describing him as being “incandescent” with the incident.

The initial investigation found that the Arts Council was not prepared for the scale of the IT project development and that it had not put in place resources to deliver it. One government source indicated that the issue emerged during the previous coalition, while former Green Party TD Catherine Martin was in the arts department.

In a statement, Mr O'Donovan said: “The examination also found that the oversight, monitoring and reporting arrangements by the department over the lifespan of the project were inadequate.” 

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Mr O’Donovan said he met with both the chair and director of the Arts Council last week to convey his “deep concern” with all aspects of the project. “The governance failures arising from this project must be addressed quickly in order to safeguard public funding and to prevent a recurrence of these issues,” Mr O’Donovan said.

He said the initial report sets out a range of “more fundamental questions about governance and culture within the Arts Council”. The Arts Minister said funding for the Arts Council has risen up to €140m up to 2025, saying it is “vital” for all stakeholders to have confidence that resources are being used appropriately and that waste is avoided.

“I want to see these questions addressed as a matter of urgency and accordingly I have instructed my department to commence an external review of governance and culture at the Arts Council,” Mr O’Donovan said. “The review will extend not only to capital projects but to all activities and expenditures under the remit of the Arts Council and will commence shortly.” 

Aiden Farrelly, arts spokesperson for the Social Democrats, said he found it difficult to understand how much money could be spent on such a project. “At what stage of its design or roll-out did it become apparent that the system was not fit for purpose? This is the type of information that needs to be put into the public domain,” Mr Farrelly said.

The Social Democrats TD questioned if the previous government and Ms Martin sat on the internal review findings “until after the general election for political reasons”. Mr Farrelly called for the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to investigate the issue when the committee reconvenes.