Millions of taxpayer euros of arts and sports funding was wasted due to poor governance and oversight at the Arts Council and the National Gallery, a “damning” report out today reveals. This included €125,000 being spent on an X-ray system for the National Gallery eight years ago, which has not been used to date.
The Committee of Public Accounts (PAC) on Tuesday released the findings of their examination of the accounts of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, along with the financial statements of the Arts Council of Ireland and the National Gallery from 2023.
The report highlights the Committee’s examination on matters such the National Gallery’s purchase of a specialist x-ray machine, the Arts Council’s failed IT Project, and oversight and governance issues across the Department and bodies under its aegis.
The report outlines “significant governance and oversight concerns” across the government Department and its agencies. It reveals how the Arts Council’s Business Transformation Project, which was intended to integrate five existing systems, was terminated in 2024 as costs rose to €6.7 million. The abandonment of the IT project resulted in a loss of €5.3 million.
The Arts Council received €133.7 million in State support in 2023.
The report outlines how, in 2017, the National Gallery acquired an X-ray system at a cost of just under €125,000 to provide for non-destructive examination of painting/collection items.
However, this system has not been used to-date because a suitable location is not available in the Gallery’s premises to accommodate its safe operation, as the system needed a lead-lined room dedicated to this piece of equipment.
The National Gallery’s total income for 2023 was €18.7 million, of which €14.6 million came from Oireachtas grants. Total expenditure for the National Gallery in 2023 was €15.6 million. This included spending on collections and research, public engagement, education, and development.
After appropriations and revaluation of property, the total comprehensive income for 2023 was €448,114, with a loss of €1.2 million in 2022.
NATIONAL GALLERY SPENT €125,000 ON UNUSED X-RAY MACHINE
The report states: “In their opening statement the National Gallery acknowledge their ineffective expenditure on their X-ray system and apologised for the time that is has taken to get the X-ray system up and running.
“Representatives of the National Gallery explained that, at the time of preparing a business case for the machine, a lead-filled room was required to house the machine and a room had been identified. However, later in 2017 following the reopening of the National Gallery’s historical wings after a period of refurbishment, the gallery identified that the original intended printer room would need to be used for another purpose. As a result, the printer had been unused with part of it stored with the supplier and the rest stored on-site.
“The Committee learned that as the machine is now eight years old, it has fully depreciated. However, the National Gallery clarified that the machine is not technologically obsolete and will provide value to the gallery for years to come.
“Director Dr. Caroline Campbell acknowledged failures in project planning and management and confirmed that the Gallery is now constructing a lead-lined cabinet to house the system. The additional cost of €222,448 will be funded from the National Gallery’s own Resources.
“The system is expected to be operational by the end of 2025 at no additional cost to the exchequer. In the interim, the Gallery has relied on external institutional partnerships to perform necessary work at no additional cost.”
The Committee notes that the lack of project management capacity, particularly for ICT projects within the Arts Council, was a significant factor in the failure of a €6.7 million ICT Project.
THE ARTS COUNCIL’S FAILED IT PROJECT, LOSS OF €5.3 MILLION
Relating to the failed Business Transformation Project, which was initially launched in 2017, the committee reports that the project was originally budgeted at €3 million. However, by 2024, it had cost €6.7 million and was ultimately discontinued in June 2024, with a net financial loss of €5.3 million.
The report says that the Arts Council attributed the failure to a combination of factors: lack of internal ICT capacity, substandard performance by certain contractors, poor governance structures, and disruptions caused by COVID-19.
“Payments were not sufficiently tied to defined milestones, and there was no senior IT oversight in place until late in the process. Legal proceedings have been initiated against two of the contractors, with additional pre-litigation action underway. Withheld payments to contractors totalled approximately €200,000, part of the overall reported loss of €5.3 million” of taxpayer funds, the report says.
According to the report, this failure was linked to inadequate ICT capacity, poor project management and a lack of effective oversight by both the Arts Council and the Department.
PAC Chair John Brady has said the findings in the report were “overall damning” in relation to the Department.