Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 1 July 2025

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport

Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed)

2:00 am

Photo of Malcolm ByrneMalcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Mr. Falvey will remember this. I certainly remember that in June 2023, this was a big problem. For those who do not remember it, artists were being told they were being given a grant when, in reality, they were not getting it. The Arts Council came out with its hands up and said it had messed up, it was an administrative error, it had to do with email trails and so on. The Minister went on the Dáil record, and this is the only reference on the Dáil record to the IT system. Everybody knew at the time that the Arts Council's IT system was a mess. Part of the solution put forward by the Minister was that this new system would be going live the following year. Were any questions or concerns raised during June or July 2023 regarding the IT system that delivered this mess?