Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

I will come back to Ms Kennelly on the legal process in a second but I note remarks of the Secretary General, who stated:

The Arts Council failed to seek or attain sanction for increases in the budget and resources it was applying to the project in 2021, 2022 and 2023 ... The Department failed to require the Arts Council to meet its obligations under the sanction which was provided and underlying all of this there was no process in place by the Department ... to escalate to the Secretary General or to the Minister.

This is a shitshow, excuse the language. Let us call a spade a spade.