For Arts Minister Patrick O’Donovan to describe himself as “desperately angry” and “furious” that the Arts Council spent €7m on an IT system that was never delivered seems like an understatement.
There is no scope for wastage and inefficiency at the best of times, and the optics alone of a State agency seemingly wasting millions at a time when people are struggling to cope with the cost of living are damning for any government.
It’s also an own goal, because the arts does immense good for this country and attendance at cultural events has only now returned to pre-covid levels.
The Arts Council itself, through the basic income pilot scheme, as well as its myriad grants and bursaries, is an overwhelming force for good.
The issue here, though, revolves around governance and why the alarm bells were not rung sooner.
The minister is right to have ordered an investigation and the Taoiseach and Tánaiste are equally correct to be furious that the issue wasn’t reported to them before Christmas.
The money was spent over several years from 2018 as the Arts Council sought to upgrade and replace infrastructure that was then 10 years old.
It is true that, as anybody involved in a major technical project can tell you, things can go horribly wrong even with the best will in the world.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Arts Council said the project had been paused in 2023 and halted in 2024 following a cost-benefit analysis. It described the work — aimed at consolidating five systems into one and improving the application and payments process — as “substandard” and the delivered product as “not fit for purpose”. It also said it had relied on external advice and taken it “in good faith”, which one suggests is indicative of the council not having the expertise within its ranks to validate or interrogate said advice in whatever form it took.
It is also the case that the money was capital funding, meaning it didn’t come out of the funds available to support the arts — the council’s budget for 2025 is €140m, with some 90% of that actually going on cultural work.
However, questions have to be asked as to how this is only coming to light now, when the project was shuttered in July of last year and the minister at the time, Catherine Martin (now no longer a TD), knew about it given that she received a report on the accounts in the summer.
Questions also have to be asked about other state agencies and organisations, as the council seems to have lacked in sufficient IT and project management support (it says it has now appointed relevant people). It is telling that during the IT project, the council had to bring in a chief information officer from Grant Thornton consultants at a cost of €240,000. It would have been cheaper, and probably more effective, to have somebody on staff to do that.
The Public Accounts Committee is currently without a chairperson, but once that appointment is made, are we going to see Ms Martin before it? Or the consultants? Or will it get lost in the noise as other issues arise?
Taxpayers are entitled to get value for money. In recent years we have had the RTÉ scandal, not to mention the €335,000 spent on a bike shed for Leinster House.
Even after years of work and millions spent, the council still needs its infrastructure updated.
One hopes that the council, which is seeking legal redress against the contractors and says some of the work can be reused, can not only reclaim the money but still come out of this with systems that make it easier for artists to apply for, and receive, vital financing.
No breaking Russian ranks
Another day in the White House has passed and left us all scratching our heads and wondering what will happen next?
Donald Trump appeared to give Russia plenty of cause for celebration this week, with comments that indicated his proffered route to peace might be as simple as Ukraine accepting Russian terms, now.
That sentiment was expressed while he also, separately, indicated to reporters that he was “on Ukraine’s side”.
Talks between Trump and Vladimir Putin appeared to give rise to the nightmare scenario for all Ukrainians, that its fate might be decided without its officials or its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, involved at all.
For the EU it was another chastening moment in which countries including Britain, France, and Germany were forced to insist they be part of peace talks.
“Our shared objectives should be to put Ukraine in a position of strength. Ukraine and Europe must be part of any negotiation,” they said.
Russia will be emboldened by the talks and the tenor of Trump’s bombastic proclamations from the Oval Office.
Before Putin and Trump spoke, we got a flavour yesterday in this newspaper of the Russian view on our own Taoiseach’s outlook when its ambassador to Ireland, Yuriy Filatov, told Elaine Loughlin that Micheál Martin was resorting to clichés when he warned of their growing threat in Europe.
Responding to comments by Mr Martin in the Irish Examiner on Saturday, where the Taoiseach warned of a threat to undersea cables off our coast and an “existential fear” among other EU countries of a possible Russian advance, the ambassador said there is “no proof” that Russia “somehow threatens Ireland or Europe”.
Russia illegally invaded Ukraine three years ago and continues to occupy swathes of the country, leading to hundreds of thousands of casualties on both sides and millions of refugees fleeing west to escape the war.
After Trump’s latest intervention, there may be little need for the ambassador to play down Russian threats to sovereignty in Europe. After all, their best friend and hope appears to lie with the man running the White House.
Cinema success
Having begun on a stern note regarding the Arts Council, it seems only fair to highlight an artistic good news story.
Irish director Brendan Canty’s film Christy, which was shot in Cork, has its world premiere at the prestigious Berlinale Film Festival. We have more than once highlighted how this country punches above its weight in cultural endeavours, and this is another example.
Funded by BBC Film and Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, it is another fine achievement by Mr Canty, perhaps best known for directing Hozier’s ‘Take Me To Church’ video in 2013, but who is also a prolific director of ads for global brands.
One hopes this will be a springboard for a rich and vibrant filmmaking career for the award-winning director.
