A special meeting of the Arts Council has been called for November 9th to discuss the crisis over management style. In what is considered an unprecedented request, council executives have been asked not to attend. It is usual for senior officers to be present at such meetings.
On Monday, another member of staff at the council's Merrion Square offices will leave. Ms Liz Powell was a communications executive. She is the third staff member to go since 1997. Ms Sarah Finlay, a visual arts officer, left in 1997, while Ms Marian Flanagan, officer for North/South co-operation and local authorities, resigned last month.
Another officer returned to work in August following extended sick leave. Two staff members went on extended sick leave in 1998. There are 32 staff at the council's offices.
Last night, the executive of the Association of Local Authority Arts Officers expressed doubts that the new Arts Plan, published in July, could now be implemented.
Responding to an article in The Irish Times last Tuesday by Ms Mary Cloake, a development director at the Arts Council, who is currently on study leave, the executive said it had seen no evidence of "intensified rather than diminished commitment" to local arts development, as Ms Cloake had claimed. If such a commitment existed, it would have manifested itself in "adequate funding and serious engagement in ideas and policies". This had not occurred.
