Ms Maureen Kennelly:

To maybe further enhance that, I am not sure if the previous chair discussed it with the Secretary General. He wrote to the Secretary General on a number of occasions expressing his strong concern about resourcing issues and about delays and decisions coming back from the Department. He wrote to the principal officer in December 2021, and in July 2023 he wrote to the Secretary General to express grave concern about delays and lack of action from the Department that were significantly impeding on the workings of the Arts Council.