Arts Council says project delivered was ‘not fit for purpose’
Minister for Arts and Culture Patrick O’Donovan said an initial report initiated by his department last year found the Arts Council was not prepared for the scale of the IT project and did not assign adequate resources to deliver it.
In his statement after the Cabinet meeting, the Minister said his department made queries last August regarding the Arts Council annual report and received clarifications in late October. Tánaiste Simon Harris has said he was “furious” upon learning the Arts Council had spent millions on an abandoned information technology project.
Arts Council Director Maureen Kennelly said the organisation “greatly regret that this ambitious and complex project was not completed”. While minutes show concerns were raised at the Business and Finance Committee of the Arts Council’s board, apart from a request for a “lessons learned” analysis, as costs spiralled and delays abounded, minutes do not record the extent to which the committee questioned progress or “sought to hold the project team to account”.
In April 2023, the Arts Council approved €3.8 million spending to deliver the project by the end of 2024. This was on top of €4.17 million already spent.Delivery was slower than planned ”at each milestone". The technology partner blamed the Arts Council for greater “business processes” than expected, while 17 “change requests” added at least 1,000 man hoursand €707,770 in expenditure.
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