Mr. Neil Murray:

I have been invited to appear before the committee to explain why the draft 2017 financial statements of the Abbey Theatre were not presented to the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General as required by 31 March 2018. The Abbey Theatre acknowledges receipt of the correspondence, dated 12 January 2018, from the Chairman on the requirement for the prompt reporting of annual financial results. I regret that this letter was not acknowledged, as requested, and that the issues raised in the letter were not the subject of follow-up discussions with representatives of the committee or the Comptroller and Auditor General. It was, unfortunately, the case that Chairman’s letter arrived in the week when the theatre’s long-standing director of finance and administration left on 19 January. Our interim director of finance and administration, Mr. Reeves, took up his post on 28 January. I express my sincere apologies.

It has been the long-standing custom and practice of the Abbey Theatre to present the draft accounts to the Comptroller and Auditor General’s team on its arrival at the theatre to carry out the annual audit. In previous years the team arrived in February or March. For example, the audit of the 2016 financial statements began on 27 February 2017. Subsequently, the audited financial statements were approved by the board of the theatre on 5 May and later published on its website. In 2018 the starting date of the audit was significantly later. The Comptroller and Auditor General’s team arrived at the theatre on 4 May to carry out the audit of the 2017 financial statements. At the time, the team received the draft accounts, on which it is working with the theatre. In line with the later starting date of the audit this year, it has been planned to submit the financial statements to the board at its meeting scheduled on 30 July, having been reviewed by the audit and risk committee of the theatre at its meeting scheduled to take place on 16 July. The board was provided with estimates of the provisional outturn for 2017 at its meeting on 31 January. The plan corresponds approximately to the length of time required for the accounts finalisation process in 2017, albeit, regrettably on our part, with a starting time that is nine weeks later.

During the course of 2017 the Abbey Theatre was engaged in discussions with the Arts Council, the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and the Comptroller and Auditor General on the 2016 code of practice for the governance of State bodies. While the theatre is not required by law to follow the code, I am pleased to advise the committee that the board has decided, in line with best practice, to implement it. Its current plans are to implement all relevant aspects of the code in the period 2017 to 2019. This process is well under way. Implementation of the code, as approved by the board, will see the theatre achieving compliance by 31 December 2019. This decision was communicated formally to the Comptroller and Auditor General by way of a response contained in the management letter, dated 16 February 2018.

I assure the Chairman that the board and the executive of the Abbey Theatre will put in place the appropriate actions to ensure that in future years the requirements set by the committee to have the annual financial statements ready for audit by 31 March of the following year will be met in full.