Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

Vote 33 is effectively a new Vote developed in 2020 to reflect significant changes in the allocation of functions between Departments. As a result, comparisons with 2019 are of limited value. The 2020 appropriation account for Vote 33 discloses total gross expenditure of €972 million. This was distributed across five expenditure programmes and included funding for a wide range of "downstream" agencies tasked with distributing grant assistance for activities and development in their respective areas.

Spending on the broadcasting programme amounted to €271 million in 2020. The majority of this, or €237 million, was expended on grants to RTÉ and TG4 to carry out their public service broadcasting commitments. The Department spent more than €242 million on the arts and culture programme in 2020. This included €105 million to support the operations of the Arts Council, contributions towards the expenses of a wide range of national and regional cultural bodies and €7.1 million in funding for the European Capital of Culture 2020. Expenditure on the sports and recreation services programme in 2020 was €203 million. This included €163 million in funding for Sport Ireland. The Department spent almost €190 million under the tourism services programme. Expenditure on the Gaeltacht programme was €66 million in 2020.

On the receipts side, appropriations-in-aid amounted to €234 million in 2020, comprised mainly of €223 million in broadcasting licence fee receipts. The surplus on the Vote remaining at the year-end was just under €50 million. The Department carried over €17 million to 2021 and the balance of €33 million was due for surrender to the central fund of the Exchequer. My audit report draws attention to a disclosure by the Accounting Officer in the statement on internal financial control that the Department incurred significant expenditure relating to goods and services where the procurement arrangements did not comply with procurement guidelines.

Turning to chapter 7 of my report on the accounts of the public services for 2020, in July 2016, Galway was designated under an EU-supported scheme as the European Capital of Culture for 2020. In support of the application for designation, the Department committed in principle to provide funding of €15 million to the project. The examination found that the programme delivery model was different from that previously used for similar events for other Irish cities. An independent company trading under the name Galway 2020 was established to deliver the capital of culture programme of activities. There was significant turnover in the membership of the company's board of directors together with significant changes early on in the executive leadership of the company. The examination found that while initial financial reporting by the company was limited to what was required under the Companies Act, this was largely addressed in 2019 when the company registered as a charity. This required significantly more detailed financial reporting, which is also appropriate for a body substantially funded by State grants. It was originally envisaged that Exchequer funding for the capital of culture programme would not exceed 50% of the overall financial cost. However, in the end, the programme relied on public sources for the majority of its funding. Covid-19 restrictions significantly affected the delivery of the programme and impacted box office receipts but sponsorship support was also much less than envisaged even before the pandemic became an issue. At the time of completing this report, independent evaluators were in the process of formally assessing the effectiveness of the Galway 2020 capital of culture programme.