Arts Council to hit back over its €6.7m IT failure
Maura McGrath is also expected to tell the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the Arts Council still requires a new system for processing grant applications and that failed efforts to update the current structure, which resulted in the loss of millions of euro, were not 'an optional extra'.
Delegates from the Arts Council, the National Gallery of Ireland and the Department of Arts and Culture will appear before PAC this afternoon to face questions over recent spending scandals in the two State agencies. Maura McGrath, chair of the Arts Council. Pic: Leon Farrell / © Photocall Ireland
In February, the Arts Council was heavily criticised after it emerged it spent € 6.7 million on a new grants management system, which was subsequently abandoned after multiple delays and complications.
The 2023 accounts for the agency noted an overall loss of value in respect of the project at € 5.3 million up to June 2024.
The organisation was sharply criticised by Arts Minister Patrick O'Donovan, who expressed his 'deep concern'. But Ms McGrath is set to question the Government's role in the fiasco at today's PAC. Pic: Sasko Lazarov/Photocallireland
In her opening statement, seen by Extra.ie, Ms McGrath will tell members that the body is attending the PAC 'to provide full transparent information, to be accountable for our actions'.
But she is also expected to say that the controversial project 'was not and is not an optional extra'. 'It began out of necessity, and it is a necessity that remains to be addressed,' she will say.
'However, the expectation that small State bodies set up for specialist purposes should be expected to carry the load on complex IT projects, should be questioned,' she will further say.
Arts Council director Maureen Kennelly, who will step down next month, will also appear at PAC. She will tell TDs that the IT systems date from 2008, and that 'a lack of internal expertise, poor performance by our contractors and also the impact of Covid-19, all contributed to the project failure'.
She is set to tell PAC members that the Arts Council commenced legal proceedings against two contractors involved in the project and is in the 'pre-action stage' in relation to two others.
'We are vigorously pursuing our cases to reduce the loss to the taxpayer,' she will say. The National Gallery of Ireland will also tell PAC it is 'very sorry' for the delay in bringing a €125,000 X-ray machine – procured in 2017 – into use.
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