The project’s management has been labeled as “shambolic” by Labour’s Ivana Bacik.

The Arts Council has spent €6.7 million on updating their IT system, only for the new system to be deemed “not fit for purpose.” After acknowledging that their “ageing online systems were presenting challenges” in 2018, the Council sought to replace their old IT system with a new one. However, in a statement last week, the agency said that this project was “ambitious in nature” and that the project came to a halt in late 2023 and was discontinued in June 2024.

Tánaiste Simon Harris has come under fire during Leaders’ Questions, as opposition TDs slammed the €6.7 million IT project failure at the Arts Council. Labour’s Ivana Bacik called for a Dáil debate, labelling the project’s management as “shambolic.”

Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Minister for Arts and Culture Patrick O’Donovan said that his priority is “to examine the culture of governance, oversight, adherence to the public spending code” by the Arts Council. With new government in place, the first report of spending was initially submitted to the Department of Arts while Catherine Martin was Minister. 

When asked if the Taoiseach, Tánaiste or Arts Minister Patrick O’Donovan has made contact with Catherine Martin in light of this overspend, a spokesperson for Tánaiste Simon Harris said he was “not aware” of any contact being made.

This is not the first time the government has come under fire for reckless or wasteful spending of public money. In 2024 alone, the government spent €336,000 bike shed in Leinster House requiring sign off from one person, spent €1.4 million on a security hut at Government buildings, and €9 million on designed phone pouches to lock away phones in an initiative to ban smartphones in secondary schools.

However, this time there is nothing to physically show for this overspending of public money. To put this €6.7 million write-off into perspective: It could fund 1400 agility grants of €5,000 each supporting individual professional artists, freelance artists and arts practitioners. It’s more than six times the funding for the Irish Traditional Music Archive. It’s more than the total grant of the Irish National Opera. Meanwhile, vital arts organisations face cuts or closure.

So who is being held responsible? At present, no one is. A government review will scrutinise all of the Arts Council’s activities, but will it change anything? O’Donovan has said that he hopes that the terms of reference will be completed in the next two weeks. Some TD’s are calling for the matter to be brought before the Public Accounts Committee. Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly said that this matter “must be a priority.”

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