Arts Council IT failure could have been stopped but ‘nobody said stop’, review finds

Independent review highlights governance failures, weak oversight and missed opportunities to halt a multimillion-euro Arts Council IT project

Arts minister Patrick O'Donovan on Tuesday updated Cabinet on the independent review into the Arts Council. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA Wire

A failed €6.7m IT project at the Arts Council could have been halted at several points, but “nobody said stop,” according to a review into the debacle.

The Arts Council — the State agency responsible for funding and developing the arts in Ireland — is almost entirely State-funded and received just under €134m in taxpayer funding in 2023.