Arts Council IT project expenditure
Aidan Farrelly seeks accountability for €6.7 million spent on an unused Arts Council IT system; the Taoiseach says governance failures are serious and may be examined by the Comptroller and Auditor General and Public Accounts Committee.
Today we learned about the latest example of public waste - in the Arts Council - where €6.7 million of public funds went towards an IT system that will not be used. We learned about it today, but it appears from reports that the Cabinet and the Minister learned about this as early as the summer of last year. The council's annual report has not been published yet. What is being done to ensure accountability and to make sure €7 million in public money is spent? How can that go to waste so easily? Will the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media come before the Dáil to answer questions on this very important issue?
Comment on this
This is a very serious issue and the Minister, Deputy Patrick O'Donovan, to be fair, is acting promptly on it. He briefed Cabinet on this IT project. There are issues in terms of the governance of that project and the eventual outcome. There has been huge expenditure on a product that has not emerged. There is not a new system in place. There are very serious issues.
The Comptroller and Auditor General has reported on this. I expect and anticipate that the Committee of Public Accounts will also examine this but it raises very serious issues.