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Irish Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Letters to the Editor, June 3rd: On Arts Council funding, disappearing fish and czars
Sir, – At the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing on May 29th, Deputy Joanna Byrne of Sinn Féin made the observation that Arts Grant Funding (AGF) seems to disproportionately favour Dublin-based companies over regional arts initiatives. The Director of the Arts Council, Maureen Kennelly's response was to point to increased funding to arts centres throughout the State and the impressive number of touring weeks that companies like Irish National Opera (INO) undertake throughout the year. If I may say so, this is far from the full picture. Funding the running of arts centres is one thing but you only have to look at their programmes to see that there is a preponderance of commercial and community/amateur arts events over professional funded arts programming. READ MORE So the availability of regionally grown professional arts events and productions is key to addressing this programming imbalance. Parachuting in touring theatre and opera from Dublin, while occasionally welcome, contributes very little to the ecology of the regional arts. As a client of the Arts Council going back 40 years or more and encompassing my time as artistic director of Opera Theatre Company (a forerunner to INO) and artistic director of the Abbey, both Dublin-based companies, and latterly as a former director of the Theatre Royal, Waterford, it has long been my contention that properly resourcing regional professional arts initiatives and companies is an important way of ensuring the fair spatial distribution of arts funding. My views on this are well known at the Arts Council. Most recently I wrote to the director and chair with support from 20 of my colleagues to reiterate this point. Properly resourcing regional arts will allow professional artists to work and live – if only for part of the time – in the place of their choosing rather than necessarily gravitating to places of higher population for all of their work. As we know there is a broader societal trend of people moving away from large urban centres for a less expensive and better quality of life. By way of example, Four Rivers, a Wexford-based initiative, was funded by the Arts Council from 2021-2024 to prioritise working with southeast based artists, or artists with connections to the region. We foregrounded new and established work and engaged in partnerships – primarily with Wexford Arts Centre and the National Opera House – to provide professional theatre in the southeast. Our grant-in-aid was modest but welcome and by 2024 allowed us to produce three good quality productions annually. That year we increased our audiences to in excess of 90 per cent of capacity – the figures are available and audited – and yet the outcome of our Arts Council funding application for 2025 – with the same mix of work and priorities that were successfully funded from 2021-2024 – inexplicably went from €205,000 to zero. When we requested an explanation we were told that the award was 'very competitive' and other applications were 'more compelling'. Which really told us nothing. The momentum we had thus built up was, and is, in danger of being squandered. In developing a new strategy to replace Great Art Works, the Arts Council needs to be mindful of the development and sustaining of regional professional arts companies in theatre and other disciplines that are embedded in their communities and not only provide employment to artists but help provide the kind of programming to arts centres that is currently largely unavailable to them. – Yours, etc, BEN BARNES, New Ross, Co Wexford. Panda's eyes Sir, – I've just received an email from Panda (my 'chosen home recycling partner') informing me that from June 12th the company's collection trucks 'will photograph and identify misplaced items within your bins'. Presumably, all its customers have received similar notification. As a result of this initiative, can we expect to see a marked increase in the sale of heavy-duty, black refuse sacks – the type that a standard camera cannot see through? – Yours, etc, PAUL DELANEY, Dalkey. Investing in education Sir, – David McWilliams (' Ireland is making progress, one mortar board at a time,' Weekend, May 31st) writes that 'Education is the best way out of poverty. Education today is an investment in tomorrow'. I fully concur. Access to educational resources on computers improves the quality of education delivered and outcomes for students. This access is often not affordable for young people living below the poverty line. However, in Ireland, hundreds of thousands of computers are replaced every year but only a small percentage are assessed for reuse as a resource to enhance young people's education and their life prospects. They are instead recycled when, alternatively, if assessed for reuse they could have a valuable social impact in improving young people's education. It is time for the Government to urge commercial and public sector organisations to consider the reusability of retired IT assets as an education resource instead of merely choosing the less environmentally friendly option of recycling. – Yours, etc, MARK FOX, Dublin 18. Striking a czar note Sir, – One of the more amusing aspects of current debates is the proliferation of the term 'czar', a rather curious moniker in this day and age. There are suggestions that Dublin could do with a 'night czar' while plans are afoot to entrust Ireland's accommodation problem to a 'housing czar', no less. Perhaps anybody seriously considering applying for the thankless task of tackling and solving the housing issue would do well to reflect on the fate which through the ages has befallen people who have borne the title of 'czar' in its myriad linguistic variations. Julius Caesar came to a sticky end in Rome, Kaiser Wilhelm II was forced to abdicate and flee into a very comfortable exile, while his first World War ally, Kaiser Karl I of Austria-Hungary, was banished to a considerably less comfortable sojourn far from home. Their joint foe on the Eastern Front, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, was assassinated, together with all his family and servants, in a cellar in the Urals and, during a later conflict, Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria may have died further to an Adolf Hitler-inspired plot using a sophisticated method of poisoning. Touch wood that, if and when a lady or gentleman is duly appointed to do battle with the housing dragon, the title bestowed shall be neither 'Tsarina' nor 'Tsar' but the rather more utilitarian, if slightly less exotic, 'Director or Head of Housing'. And, when the time comes, the good wishes of all shall be with anybody brave enough to get into the saddle and ride off into battle. – Yours, etc, STEPHEN O'SULLIVAN, Paris, France. Sir. – I have to agree with Graham Doyle, secretary general at the Department of Housing, a housing tsar is not required. What would be more appropriate is a High King of Housing in Ireland who could rule rather than reign over a new house building kingdom. – Yours, etc, DERMOT O'ROURKE, Lucan, Dublin. Ireland and Israeli bonds Sir, – Notwithstanding the Irish Government's recent defeat of a Private Members' Bill attempting to block the trade in Israeli bonds facilitated through the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI), that institution has been remiss when reviewing the previous Israeli prospectus and must now insist that any future prospectus be truly comprehensive. Since 2021, the CBI has approved our prospectuses to enable Israel to issue bonds within the EU. Gabriel Makhlouf, governor of CBI, has previously defended the approval of Israel's prospectus documentation stating that, as a competent authority of the EU Central Bank, the CBI must approve any prospectus for a bond issue that is clear, comprehensible, comprehensive and fulfils all necessary criteria as laid down in the annexes contained in legislation. However, the last prospectus provided by Israel was far from comprehensive in several of the sections that are key to the approval. For a bond prospectus to be approved, the issuer must provide a comprehensive list of risks that may impact investors' return on the bonds. Up to 2024, Israeli prospectuses have laid out various security, economic, wartime and political risks that might impact the state's ability (or desire) to repay investment in the bonds. In January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found it plausible that Israel's acts could amount to genocide and issued six provisional measures, ordering Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent genocidal acts, including preventing and punishing incitement to genocide, ensuring aid and services reach Palestinians under siege in Gaza, and preserving evidence of crimes committed in Gaza. This interim statement from the ICJ issued a caution to the state of Israel that the court shall continue to evaluate the case against Israel and subsequently deliver its final decision. However, section 2 (Risks) of Israel's prospectus, approved by CBI in September 2024, made no mention of the risk of an adverse finding by the ICJ against Israel or the possibility of international sanctions against Israel based on evidence of the IDF's conduct in Gaza and the West Bank. For this reason, it could not be considered to contain a 'comprehensive' list of risks. In addition, section 8 'Use of Proceeds' contains only the following sentence: 'The net proceeds from the issue of the Bonds are intended to be used for the general financing purposes of the Issuer.' This bland formula was accepted by the CBI despite the sections entitled 'Description of the Issuer' and 'Recent Events' being full of references to Israel's 'war' efforts. The Israeli government may not wish to acknowledge that it is 'in the dock' before the ICJ, that the ICJ may find it guilty of committing genocide and that countries may consequently impose sanctions against Israel. Regardless of the ICJ's final decision, which may take years to arrive, any sovereign country or their private citizens may decide to boycott Israeli goods and services. That such risks may be embarrassing to Israel and may draw attention to its increasing isolation in international relations should be of no concern to the Central Bank of Ireland. These factors represent additional risks to investors in the bonds and should be present in any comprehensive prospectus relating to the bond issue. Israel's bond issue expires at the end of August and must be renewed in September. As a competent authority of the EU, the Central Bank of Ireland must insist that the prospectus be comprehensive, whether or not the bond issuer loses face through that completeness. It behoves Mr Makhlouf to ensure the CBI fulfils its responsibilities to the full. – Yours, etc, Cllr JOHN HURLEY, Social Democrat, Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, Co Dublin. Sir, – I'm hoping the Taoiseach and Tánaiste will have read Mark O'Connell's excellent piece in Saturday's paper (' I walked through the fire all by myself'' – this is barbarism' , Opinion, May 31st). The rawness of the piece and how it exposes the complicit impotence of western governments to what is happening in Gaza is powerful. It holds in contrast the EU's rapid reaction to Russia's aggression in Ukraine to its paralysis at the Israeli genocide in Gaza. If our leaders really cared about international law and the future of a viable Palestinian state, they would be working day and night to enact the Occupied Territories Bill before the summer recess, and pushing others in the EU to do the same. – Yours, etc, BARRY WALSH, Blackrock, Cork. Biodiversity and housing Sir, – Paul O'Shea's excellent letter ( Letters, May 31st ) argues that as well as the issue of house-building, climate change still needs to be urgently addressed, such as by improving rural land use. Although new urban and suburban house planning and building address climate change in some ways, there is siloed thinking that excludes serious attention to how biodiversity could be improved while providing housing. Even a prescription for one fruit tree or bee-friendly plant per housing unit would help instead of acres of gravel and occasional token vegetation. – Yours, etc, TRICIA CUSACK, Co Wicklow. Disappearing mackerel Sir, – Katie Mellett reported on the collapse of whale-watching off the Cork coast ( 'It's an empty, lifeless sea: Whales leave Cork waters, putting watchers out of business,' May 29th ). Colm Barnes, an experienced fisherman, explained to her that almost all the whales have disappeared because their food source, sprat, are being fished out by huge fishing vessels. We have been fishing for mackerel for 40 years on Kenmare Bay, a Special Area of Conservation. The mackerel have disappeared for the same reason. They feed on sprat, as you can see when you gut them. In recent years in winter, huge fishing vessels sweep the bay in pairs, with massive fine mesh nets held between them. It is obvious that they are contributing to destroying the mackerel fishery in the bay, affecting small-scale fishing which is important to locals and visitors, doing untold damage there and beyond in the open sea. One other consequence has been the virtual disappearance of the magnificent gannets from the upper bay and it's likely that other diving birds have been affected. The well publicised and ongoing destruction of this special area has been tolerated for some years by the authorities, ignoring their stated commitment to conservation. For example, it has been highlighted by the UCC Green Campus Group and by the brilliant transition year students from Pobalscoil Inbhear Scéine, Kenmare, who have produced an informative and evocative video. We are delighted to learn that Minister of State for Fisheries and the Marine Michael Healy-Rae is taking up this matter. We hope he will listen especially carefully to the young people of Ireland who are telling us to ban industrial fishing from Irish inshore waters now. – Yours, etc, DAVID and JANET MCCONNELL, CATHERINE FAYEN, DAVE and CHERRIE LOWE, DAVID O'SULLIVAN, BRYAN MAYBURY, FIONA THORNTON, Co Kerry. Name change Sir, – My original surname was three letters long. I wished I'd had a longer one. On marriage, almost 50 years ago, my wish was granted. The difference is unbelievable! – Yours, etc, RUTH GILL, Birr, Co Offaly. Going grey Sir, – Is a grey squirrel not an old red squirrel? (Squirrel spotting, Letters, June 2nd ). – Yours, etc, EUGENE TANNAM, Dublin.
Irish Times
29-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Minister objected to second term for Arts Council director amid fallout over botched IT project
The director of the Arts Council , Maureen Kennelly, wanted to stay in her role, but Minister for Arts Patrick O'Donovan 'did not consent to a second term', she told the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee on Thursday. Ms Kennelly, who has been in the role since April 2020, is due to step down next month. She told the committee she wanted to continue her work as director, but Mr O'Donovan did not grant her a second five-year term. She said she was 'very disappointed' that her contract had not been extended as she had 'great plans for the organisation' and the board 'fully supported' her. 'There were a number of reforms that I brought in, and there were a number of other reforms that I really wanted to see through. So it's a source of great disappointment that I won't be able to see those through,' she said. READ MORE Ms Kennelly said she believed that all her 'predecessors in living memory' had been granted a second term. She said she was offered 'a short-term contract, which I deemed unacceptable'. Asked if Mr O'Donovan did not grant Ms Kennelly a second term because of the IT project controversy, Feargal Ó Coigligh, secretary general at the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, said: 'The minister sanctioned the contract that he deemed appropriate.' About €6.7 million was spent by the arts organisation on a new IT system that was eventually abandoned. The PAC was told how the Arts Council is trying to recoup about €4 million lost through the botched IT project. Committee members heard the organisation had started legal proceedings against two contractors and was in the 'pre-action stage' in relation to two others. 'We are vigorously pursuing our cases to reduce the loss to the taxpayer,' Ms Kennelly told the committee . She said the council needed to modernise its IT systems and integrate five systems into one. The council 'engaged external contractors to manage and deliver the work, as we did not have the internal resources to deliver this large-scale project', she said. Ms Kennelly said, after some delays, 'multiple bugs were discovered' with the new system in 2022. She said every effort was made to 'rescue it', but ultimately this could not be done. Mr Ó Coigligh said he was 'very annoyed' that so much public money was lost through the failed IT scheme, adding that it 'shouldn't have happened'. 'Mistakes were made, and we put up our hands that mistakes were made,' he said. Mr Ó Coigligh said lessons have been learned to prevent such financial losses in the future. 'I'm putting in place changes to make sure it doesn't happen again,' he said. The minister has established an expert advisory committee, led by Professor Niamh Brennan, to review the governance and organisational culture at the Arts Council, Mr Ó Coigligh said. Representatives from the National Gallery also appeared before the committee on Thursday. Caroline Campbell, director of the National Gallery, said she hoped that a scanner bought for €125,000 and which lay idle for eight years will be up and running before the end of this year. She said she and her colleagues are 'very sorry for the length of time that it has taken to get the X-ray system up and running'. 'We anticipate that the system will be operational by the end of 2025, at no additional expense to the Exchequer,' Ms Campbell said. She said there were several reasons for the delay including 'pressures on the use of our building, unanticipated operational issues following the reopening of the gallery's historic wings in 2017, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and changes of key senior personnel during this period'.
Irish Times
29-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Watch live updates: Arts Council before Public Accounts Committee on botched €6.7m IT project
Órla Ryan - 1 minute ago The Public Accounts Committee will on Thursday examine recent spending controversies, in particular the €6.7 million spent by the Arts Council on a new IT system that was eventually abandoned. The controversial project sparked a full review into the operations of the council, after Minister for Arts and Culture Patrick O'Donovan said an initial report found it was not prepared for the scale of the IT project. We'll keep you updated with the hearing as it happens. Main points: Maureen Kennelly, director of the Arts Council, and Maura McGrath, chair of the board of the Arts Council, are among those set to appear before the PAC. It has been confirmed that Ms Kennelly will step down in June after concluding her five-year term. Representatives from the National Gallery are also due to appear before the committee to discuss why a scanner it bought for €125,000 lay idle for eight years.
The Journal
29-05-2025
- Business
- The Journal
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'. Advertisement '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'. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Times
28-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Arts Council director Maureen Kennelly to stand down in wake of botched IT contract
Maureen Kennelly has announced her intention to resign as director of the Arts Council next month. It comes as the council is due to appear before the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday concerning the failed project to develop an IT system for the organisation which cost nearly €6.7 million. In communications to staff, Ms Kennelly said she will be leaving her position soon after the Oireachtas committee hearings are complete. The controversial project sparked a full review into the operations of the council, after Minister for Arts and Culture Patrick O'Donovan said an initial report found it was not prepared for the scale of the IT project. READ MORE Ms Kennelly, who was appointed in April 2020, told staff her term as director was due to finish this month, adding that last December, the board of the Arts Council made a business case for her contract to be renewed for a further five-year term. However, following the publication of the Arts Council's annual report in February, which included details of the IT project costs, Ms Kennelly said the Minister refused to sanction the renewal. The board subsequently suggested that a decision on the renewal of Ms Kennelly's contract be deferred until after the work of the review group was complete, she said. Ms Kennelly told staff the board was 'disappointed' that the department could not see a way to do this, adding that she was subsequently offered a short-term contract with conditions she felt she 'could not accept.' She told staff it has been an honour to lead the council through 'tumultuous and exciting times' in the arts. In a statement, the board said it was with 'deep regret' that Ms Kennelly will step down as director in June. 'Maureen concluded her five-year term on 4 May and has generously agreed to remain in her role to represent the Arts Council at upcoming Public Accounts Committee and Oireachtas hearings,' it said. Noting that Ms Kennelly was appointed during the 'height of the Covid-19 pandemic,' the board said she led the organisation through an 'exceptionally challenging time.' 'Under her leadership, the Arts Council underwent a period of significant cultural change, with a strong focus on organisational development and staff wellbeing. 'She successfully resolved long-standing legacy challenges and brought renewed strategic clarity to the council's work. 'Together with the council, she secured unprecedented increases in State funding for the arts – enabling artists and organisations across the country to create and present work of outstanding quality. She also championed higher professional standards and fostered a climate of trust and respect across the wider arts sector,' it said. Maura McGrath, chair of the Arts Council, said Ms Kennelly is 'truly of the arts.' 'For her, the role of director was a vocation, not merely a job. Her commitment and passion were evident every day and are widely acknowledged across the sector. We are deeply grateful for her unwavering dedication and her loyal service to the arts community,' she said.
