Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)

I thank all the witnesses for being here and for their statements. Apologies that I was a couple of minutes late.

My first couple of questions are for the Arts Council. Nearly all mentions of the project under discussion today are redacted from the minutes that are available on the Arts Council's website. In nearly all of the minutes for meetings held during the most contentious period between 2021 and 2024, large sections are blacked out. Unredacted minutes released to The Currency under freedom of information show that many of those redactions were about the IT project, including significant concerns raised by the board. This includes the board's position at a September 2022 meeting to the effect that certain governance matters needed further consideration. The following month, the board outlined its continued concern about delivery of the project. By March 2023, it had asked for a paper which it stated needed to address all reputational concerns. Why were details of these concerns redacted and to what extent were they relayed to the Department? If they were relayed to the Department, when did this happen? What actions were taken on foot of them? Obviously, that second question is for the Department.