The Arts Council has found itself in the eye of a political storm after it emerged that €5.3 million has been lost on a scrapped IT project. But what happened, and what comes next?
Just what was the project supposed to do?
In 2019, the Arts Council received approval for a €2.87 million project to bring together five different IT systems – termed the “Business Transformation Project” – and including its system for processing and paying out tens of millions of euro in grants.
Was it up to the job?
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A report by the Department of Arts and Media found that the council “was not prepared for the nature and scale” of the project and failed to “cultivate an adequate culture or process of change management”.
It also didn’t fully estimate the costs, as required by the public spending code, nor calculate a final estimate of the project costs, also required by the code.
What happened during the project?
It seems the project began to go off the rails quite quickly. The Arts Council wasn’t happy with the “deliverables” being brought to it but also changed or expanded the scope of the project several times. While it told the department it was approving additional spending as costs mushroomed, it didn’t request approval to do so. The timeline was “extremely challenging and possibly unrealistic”.
As the project wobbled, the Arts Council, after options presented to it by the company, decided to move away from its original plan to a more customised option which “contributed to a system that was later found to be complex, difficult to support and update and identify and track defects”.
Were there running repairs?
After a fashion. Some contracts ended, some were extended, some new partners were brought in – and around €200,000 was withheld from contractors. But it didn’t report on this in its Letter to the Minister – an annual health check with the political system – required under the Code of Practice for State Bodies. Ultimately, with €6 million spent, the final assessment when the handbrake was pulled was that the project could cost another €9 million to bring to fruition – in 2028.
What about the department?
Its own review has found that it didn’t fulfil the requirements of the Public Spending Code with an “inadequate appraisal” of the Arts Council 2018 business case, nor did it fulfil its obligations under the code of practice for governance of State bodies when it came to overseeing the project.
What about the politicians?
A key question is who knew what and when. The issue fully detonated in the summer of 2024 when the council sought permission for more money to purchase an alternative system. That led to the departmental review, and when the council submitted its accounts in July, the department sought more information. The extra information was given to the department at the end of October. Catherine Martin brought nothing to cabinet as the election closed in, or afterwards. The convention is that governments do nothing major policy-wise around elections but bringing an annual report of a State body to cabinet for publication is not a big policy development.
The Green Party and Martin have not responded to queries.
What about the money
The council is of the view that it can salvage about €1.2 million in value from the project, but there is deep scepticism within Government about this. It has withheld some payments from contractors, and says it is in a process seeking “legal redress”, but the balance sheet says €5.3 million is gone and not coming back.
