The Department of Culture should “develop and enforce stronger oversight mechanisms” for organisations it funds, according to a report by the Dáil’s spending watchdog.
It comes after controversy over a botched IT project at the Arts Council that led to a loss of €5.3 million and a separate issue at the National Gallery where an X-ray scanner machine was bought at a cost of almost €125,000 but could not be used as there was no suitable room for the equipment.
The Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is on Tuesday due to publish its report on the 2023 accounts of what was then called the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts Gaeltacht, Sport and Media as well as the financial statements of the Arts Council and the National Gallery for the same year.
The department is now known as the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
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The report is set to include a recommendation that the department “develop and enforce stronger oversight mechanisms for funded bodies to ensure that issues such as failed IT projects or underutilised equipment are identified early and escalated appropriately”.
Earlier this year it emerged that an abandoned IT project at the Arts Council aimed at replacing existing systems led to a net loss of €5.3 million.
The Irish Times understands that the PAC report will say that a lack of project management capacity – particularly for IT projects – within the Arts Council, and a lack of a clear escalation and oversight process between the Arts Council and the department, were significant factors in the failure of the project.
A spokeswoman for the Arts Council said: “We look forward to the publication of the report and to responding proactively to any recommendations.”
Separately, it was revealed this year that the National Gallery bought, for almost €125,000 in 2017, an X-ray scanner for the purposes of examining art works in an unintrusive way. However, the machine lay idle in the subsequent years as there was no suitable room to house it. The scanner requires a lead-lined room due to the risk posed to humans from the radiation it produces.
The PAC report is to recommend that all Government departments and agencies conduct “rigorous” pre-purchase checks before acquiring specialist equipment and ensure that suitable facilities are in place for their use before committing resources to such projects.
The National Gallery told the PAC in May that it was purchasing a cabinet that would allow the machine to be used. The €222,448 cost of the cabinet was to come from its own resources and not the exchequer.
A spokeswoman for the National Gallery told The Irish Times that as of this month “the X-ray cabinet is on site and we are currently in the testing and staff training phase”, adding “the X-ray function is expected to be operational before the end of the year”.
A statement from the Department of Culture said it had not seen the PAC report and “obviously cannot comment on the contents”.
It said the department “has taken a number of steps over the past year to address a range of governance and oversight issues”.
The statement said Minister for Culture Patrick O’Donovan commissioned an external review of the governance and organisational culture in the Arts Council and this review has been under way since February.
The review is being conducted by an expert advisory committee chaired by Prof Niamh Brennan and this work is said to be “progressing well” and the committee is “fully independent in its approach to its work”.
The statement continued: “Minister O’Donovan asked the committee to ensure that the review process is robust, fair and transparent, and will lead to practical, actionable recommendations to improve the Arts Council’s governance arrangements. The report will be brought to Government when it is completed.”
