Arts Council boss to be grilled on failed €6.7m IT project before bowing out of role
THE ARTS COUNCIL is set to face a grilling at the Public Accounts Committee over
the failed project to develop an IT system for the organisation
which cost nearly €6.7 million.
The director of the Arts Council, Maureen Kennelly, will appear before the committee before she steps down from her role next month.
Kennelly's five-year term as director ended on 4 May, and the Arts Council
confirmed yesterday
that she agreed to remain in her role to represent the board at upcoming Public Accounts Committee hearings.
Staff from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media will also appear before the committee this morning.
The Arts Council are expected to tell the committee that a lack of internal expertise, poor performance by its contractors and the impact of Covid-19 all contributed to the project failure.
Arts Minister Patrick O'Donovan launched an external review of the controversial IT project in February after it was confirmed that €5.3 million was written off on a system that was 'not fit for purpose' and was eventually discontinued.
When the project was first planned six years ago, it was estimated to cost roughly €3 million and take two-and-a-half years to complete. By the time it was abandoned, the cost of the project had reached €6.675 million, and the system was not in use.
The Arts Council continues to use an outdated grant applications system that was in place when the IT upgrade was first announced.
Maura McGrath, the chair of the Arts Council board, will tell the committee that the project 'was not an optional extra' and began out of necessity, 'and it is a necessity that remains to be addressed'.
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'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 say.
Legal proceedings
Kennelly will tell the Public Accounts Committee that they have commenced legal proceedings against two contractors and are in the pre-action stage in relation to two others.
'We are vigorously pursuing our cases to reduce the loss to the taxpayer,' Kennelly will say.
The committee will hear how the Arts Council's systems date from 2008, are not integrated and are difficult to use.
Kennelly will tell TDs and Senators that as the expected delivery date of September 2022 approached for the IT project, 'multiple bugs were discovered' and the 'sub-standard work' meant the project could not move forward to completion.
She will say that following a review and attempted re-working, 'we were ultimately advised by new ICT consultants at the end of 2023 that the system was too flawed to rectify in a reasonable timeframe'.
Kennelly will also say that the Arts Council now has senior ICT expertise in-house, and have 'identified and implemented improvements to our procurement and project management processes'.
'We are in the process of implementing all recommendations relevant to us from the Department's examination report.'
Meanwhile, the Secretary General at the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media will assure the committee that the Department 'places the highest emphasis on fulfilling our oversight responsibilities in relation to all our bodies'.
Feargal Ó Coigligh will say it is clear from the report in relation to the IT project that the Department 'failed to properly exercise its oversight function' and that it should have 'intervened more actively and much sooner to reduce the exposure to the taxpayer of this failed project'.
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