Independent TD for South Tipperary Mattie McGrath is expressing deep concern over the recent revelations regarding the Arts Council’s €7 million expenditure on an abandoned IT system. The TD says the matte, compounded by the RTÉ scandal, underscores a disturbing pattern of mismanagement within the Department of Arts.
The project to design a programme to process grant applications began in 2019 with a budget of €3m, the project was found to have failures and the Arts council ended contracts with developer and testers Codec and Expleo in 2022, the budget was revised upwards €6.5M. In late 2023 it was established that the product was not expected to be delivered on time in 2024 the project was abandoned and the Arts council purchased an off the shelf software solution. Minster Catherine Martin ordered a review of the project last year which was presented to cabinet last week. A full review of the governance at the Arts Council is now to take place as ordered by Minister Patrick O’Donovan.
Deputy McGrath says that senior officials at the Department of Arts and the management of the Arts Council, including its board, allowed “egregious waste of public funds which raises serious questions about their competence and accountability.” Deputy Mcgrath now wants the review to include details of the oversight process, the decision to abandon the project, what improvements have been made to prevent a future similar failure and if any of the costs be recovered.
