Dr Frances Ruane has been reappointed as chair of the Abbey Theatre board for two further years. Minister for Culture Catherine Martin reappointed her with effect from July 29th, 2022.
The appointment has been pending for some months, as Dr Ruane’s five-year term finished in May. She was eligible for reappointment for another four-year term. After her term finished, Dr Ruane’s deputy, Michael Owens, was understood to be filling the chair’s functions.
Ms Martin said she was pleased to reappoint Dr Ruane “as she has the essential experience and knowledge necessary to continue to lead the board of the Abbey Theatre. She has a distinguished track record and has brought this valued experience to bear as chair to date”. Dr Ruane, an economist, is a former director of the Economic and Social Research Institute.
Several months later than expected for funding decisions, the Arts Council announced in June that it had approved the Abbey’s funding for the current year. The State subsidy of €7.5 million for the national theatre, at the same level as last year, has a number of conditions attached.
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[ Abbey Theatre’s €7.5m funding for 2022 comes with conditions attachedOpens in new window ]
This follows a report into the Abbey Theatre’s financial controls and governance by an independent auditor, Mazars. The council commissioned the inquiry in November 2021, some months after it learned of a number of settlements by the national theatre to its former joint directors Graham McLaren and Neil Murray. Mazars delivered its report to the council in late March; the Arts Council has declined to publish it or make its findings known.
As well as concern about the payments, the Arts Council had ongoing concern about governance of the Abbey. The theatre’s board membership has, at times, been seriously depleted in recent years, with several appointments overdue. In September 2021 the Abbey board acknowledged to the council, in a letter obtained by The Irish Times under the Freedom of Information Act, that a board reappointment the previous year “amounts to an inadvertent corporate governance lapse, notwithstanding that the board considers that the draft M&AA” – memorandum and articles of association – “is a further improvement in governance standards”. The board also notified the Minister and the Charities Regulator of the lapse.
The Arts Council confirmed to The Irish Times in June that its approval of Abbey funding this year had “a number of conditions” attached, including a “a culture audit of the organisation”. The conditions “seek to safeguard the expenditure of public monies now and into the future”.
Those conditions involve “reviews of policy and procedures” in “procurement, HR and behaving with integrity, leading people, working effectively and being accountable and transparent”, the council said. The conditions for funding also cover monitoring and reporting on board appointments; information on co-productions and the cost base for the Peacock, the Abbey’s second stage.
The Abbey, now led by artistic director Caitríona McLaughlin and executive director Mark O’Brien, “has signalled its full commitment to working with the Arts Council to ensure these conditions are satisfied so that the organisation can continue to grow and develop as a leader within the arts in Ireland”, the council confirmed.
[ Drama at the Abbey as Arts Council investigates finance and governanceOpens in new window ]
Mazars was asked late last year to review finance and governance at the Abbey following media reports that its handling of McLaren and Murray’s departures, earlier that year, and its management of another matter relating to McLaren only, had led to a number of settlements to the former directors. It has been reported that the payments and legal costs totalled about €700,000, a figure neither the council nor the Abbey has confirmed or denied. The 2020 accounts report €165,256 (plus €11,000 in legal costs) as termination payments for the outgoing directors, plus legal fees, despite their fixed five-year terms; which represents a portion of the payments understood to be at issue.
The Arts Council’s €7.5 million 2022 subsidy is, the council said, for productions on the main stage and the Peacock, for touring plans and for its community and education work, as well as for core and staff costs.
