Another fine mess? How did the Arts Council spend €6.7m on a failed IT project

YESTERDAY IT WAS confirmed that all activities of the Arts Council are to be subject to an external review as a result of a €6.7 million spend on a failed IT project.

The review was commissioned by the new Arts Minister Patrick O’Donovan, with Tánaiste Simon Harris telling Fine Gael members last night that “this is the sort of issue that rightly infuriated Irish people”.

So what do we know so far about this developing controversy? 

First of all, what is the Arts Council?

The Arts Council is the national government agency for funding, developing and promoting the arts in Ireland.

One of its primary functions is to distribute grants to artists to fund their projects and allow the country to have a healthy artistic sector. 

These grants are distributed after artists apply for funding under different schemes across different disciplines, be they sculptures, painters, film makers and so on. 

Funding for the Arts Council has increased by 75% in recent years to a current level of €140 million for 2025. The Arts Council says that about 90% of its spending goes directly to artists and the public. 

The Arts Council announced last month that its first round of funding decisions for 2025 had been made, with 175 arts organisations, arts centres and arts studios receiving grants amounting to €68.5 million.

How do artists apply?

This is where the current problem has arisen. The online system handling thousands of applications has been in place since 2008 and is terribly out of date.

Applicants have frequently derided the system and the Arts Council themselves acknowledged that the “ageing online systems were presenting challenges and required improvement”.

Sounds like they need a new system?

They do, and in 2018 the Arts Council sought to replace the old system with a new one. In a statement yesterday, the agency said the project to replace the old one was “ambitious in nature” and outside the scope of its own processes. 

As such, the agency secured two IT contractors through the public procurement process to carry it out. 

Despite this, the project was not delivered with the agency saying the contractors “delivered substandard work”. 

The project was paused in late 2023 and following a cost-benefit analysis it was decided to discontinue it in June 2024.

What happened?

At this point it is unclear exactly what happened, but what we do know is that €6.7 million was spent on it. 

Most of that spend has been wasted, with the Arts Council saying the total write off is some €5.3 million.  

In a statement, the agency said yesterday did not rule out that legal action may be taken to recoup some of that spending.

“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,” the statement said. 

How has this got political?

The report was submitted to the Department of Arts while Catherine Martin was Minister. Rollingnews.ie Rollingnews.ie

Overspending of public money is always political and in this case we’re not talking about an overspend but money literally spent without even a bike shed to show for it.

Asked today about the timeline, Arts Minister Patrick O’Donovan has said that the project was “drawn to a shuttering end” in June and July of last year.

At this point in time, O’Donovan’s predecessor Catherine Martin was in charge of the department. 

O’Donovan has said that the Secretary General of the department initiated a review of the project last year which detailed a number of key findings and 36 recommendations.

Among them was that the Arts Council was not prepared for the scale of the project and that it did not put in place adequate resources to deliver it. 

What have the Taoiseach and Tánaiste said?

Arts Minister Patrick O’Donovan said he has expressed “deep concern” to the chairperson and director of the Arts Council over all aspects of the project. RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

A spokesperson for the Taoiseach Micheál Martin said yesterday evening that it is his understanding that neither the Taoiseach or Tánaiste were made aware of the overspend at the time.

Asked if the Taoiseach, Tánaiste or Arts Minister Patrick O’Donovan had made contact with Catherine Martin in light of the overspend, a spokesperson for Tánaiste Simon Harris said he was “not aware” of any contact being made.

Speaking at last night’s Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting, Harris said he was “furious” about the money wasted on the failed IT project.

When the matter was raised at the meeting, the Fine Gael leader said: “This raises very serious questions about the governance and controls within this agency. This is the sort of issue that rightly infuriated the Irish people.”

What happens next? 

Now that a review into the Arts Council has been commissioned, O’Donovan has said that he hopes that the terms of reference will be completed within the next fortnight. 

There have already been calls for the matter to be brought before the Public Accounts Committee, with Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly saying yesterday that this “must be a priority”.