Full scrutiny of the millions wasted by the Arts Council on a failed IT project must be a priority for the incoming Public Accounts Committee (PAC), according to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly.<\/p>\n
Deputy Farrelly, who is the party\u2019s arts spokesperson, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has emerged today that \u20ac7 million was spent by the Arts Council on an unsuccessful IT system \u2013 the latest in a litany of spending scandals involving the needless waste of taxpayers\u2019 money.<\/p>\n
\u201cI find it difficult to understand how so much money could be spent on a failed project. At what stage of its design or rollout did it become apparent that the system was not fit for purpose? This is the type of information that needs to be put into the public domain.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has also been suggested that the report into this matter was submitted to former Arts Minister Catherine Martin as far back as last summer, which begs the question: did the previous government deliberately sit on its findings until after the general election for political reasons?<\/p>\n
“While it is welcome that the government has ordered a full external review of the Arts Council, new Arts Minister Patrick O’Donovan must still answer questions on this matter in the D\u00e1il.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am also calling for the Arts Council\u2019s annual report and financial statements to be subject to a robust interrogation by PAC when the committee reconvenes.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoincidentally, this latest controversy coincides with some noteworthy figures I received this week in response to a parliamentary question, which relate to IT external service provision across all government departments.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe deserve nothing less than full transparency and accountability when it comes to how public funds are spent.\u201d<\/p>\n
February 12, 2025<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Full scrutiny of the millions wasted by the Arts Council on a failed IT project must be a priority for the incoming Public Accounts Committee (PAC), according to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly. Deputy Farrelly, who is the party\u2019s arts spokesperson, said: \u201cIt has emerged today that \u20ac7 million was spent by the Arts Council […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11557,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[396,675,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aidan-farrelly","category-arts","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n