The crisis over the appointment of a new director of the Irish Museum of Modern Art deepened yesterday with the reported rejection of the job by Dr Brian Kennedy. The circumstances in which he was offered the job sparked the resignation of two board members on Tuesday.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported yesterday that Dr Kennedy had rejected the offer and decided to complete the final year of his five-year contract with the National Gallery of Australia.
However, the board of IMMA was not officially informed of this up to 5.30 p.m. yesterday, and had earlier issued a statement supporting his proposed appointment and endorsing the procedures that led to it.
The board was unable to contact Dr Kennedy up to yesterday evening. The Irish Times was also unable to contact him.
Meanwhile, Mr Peter Cassells, a member of the interview panel that considered Dr Kennedy's application, has written to the chairwoman of the board, Ms Marie Donnelly, disputing the version of events in her letter to the Minister, Ms S∅le de Valera, on Wednesday.
In her letter to the Minister, Ms Donnelly had said Dr Kennedy "was by unanimous agreement of the panel our candidate of choice". Mr Cassells's letter states: "I am appalled and very concerned about the total misrepresentation of my position as a member of the interview panel contained in this letter, as reported in the media.
"It is not true to say that, following his interview by video link, Dr Kennedy was 'by unanimous agreement of the panel, the candidate of choice'. While he scored better than the other two candidates, serious reservations were expressed regarding his management style and the large turnover of staff in his current employment. Serious reservations were also expressed regarding his artistic and exhibition policies.
"It was clearly agreed to recommend to the board that a wider search, using specialist recruitment consultants, should be undertaken and that Dr Kennedy could be further judged in that context."
Yesterday the board members who resigned, Ms Terry Prone and Mr Niall Crowley, met Ms de Valera to outline their concerns.