Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for his response. I am glad he has acknowledged there are clearly questions for the Department as well as the Arts Council. I listened to the Minister expressing his anger and disappointment on the radio this morning, but we need more than just expressions of anger and disappointment from the line Minister. We need greater clarity on when he became aware of this. I am conscious he is only recently in the job. As I stated, however, this Government contains many Ministers who were also Ministers in the previous Government. There is also a question of the levels of knowledge of the previous Government about this and about the timelines involved.

We need clarity on the timelines for the review that has been commissioned and we need greater clarity on the timeline of events which led to this overspend. I reviewed the 2023 annual report of the Arts Council which is now online. The report of the chair, drafted in June 2024, makes no mention of any of this. Artists and all of us must have confidence in the Arts Council, in its senior management and in the Department of the arts, because, as the Tánaiste said, there is so much public money at stake here. It is important that our artists are properly supported.

In restoring that confidence, it is important that we have a root-and-branch review of the Arts Council processes and internal culture, of the level of the Department's oversight and of public procurement rules.

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