The Government has announced a full review into the operations of the Arts Council after Ministers were told €6 million was wasted on a proposed new IT system.
Minister for Arts and Culture Patrick O’Donovan said an initial report initiated by his department last year found the Arts Council was not prepared for the scale of the IT project and did not assign adequate resources to deliver it.
“The examination also found that the oversight, monitoring and reporting arrangements by the department over the lifespan of the project were inadequate,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.
An external review of governance and culture at the body has now been commissioned, he said.
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It is understood an earlier Cabinet discussion on the controversy went on at length, as Ministers digested the news of another controversy to hit the department just two years after the RTÉ scandal exploded.
The department is understood to have been made aware of the issue last June, though Wednesday’s briefing by Mr O’Donovan is the first time the Government as a whole has been formally briefed.
In his statement after the Cabinet meeting, the Minister said his department made queries last August regarding the Arts Council annual report and received clarifications in late October.
He said he met last week with the Chairperson and Director of the Arts Council to convey his “deep concern” about the project.
Governance failures must be addressed to safeguard public funding and to prevent issues reocurring, he said. He said the examination “points to a broader range of more fundamental questions about governance and culture within the Arts Council”.
Mr O’Donovan said he has instructed his department to begin an external review into governance, culture and expenditure at the organisation.
The Arts Council has acknowledged “significant” sums were spent on an undelivered project.
“We take our role as custodian of public money very seriously and for that reason we are engaging with our contractors with a view to seeking legal redress,” it said in a statement.
The agency said it believes the contractors selected via a public procurement system delivered “substandard” work. The council relied heavily on external advice and “took it in good faith”, it said, adding that the the product delivered was “not fit for purpose”.
Arts Council Director Maureen Kennelly said the organisation “greatly regret[s] that this ambitious and complex project was not completed”.
“The need for a new system remains and I am determined to provide an improved grants management system for the arts sector,” she said.
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