Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)

It would be unfortunate if we were to insulate the expenditure from the Minister's Department from all of the other expenditure that came from this. A representative of Aontú in the area, Luke Silke, has done significant work on this matter. A large amount of money was spent. Taxpayers have had to fork out for this, even in the years subsequent to 2020. People were still paying for this in 2023. As soon as the Minister started his job, he came across the crisis in the Arts Council with the IT system that never functioned. Privately, he probably shares the same concerns as me around value for money and the waste that is happening in these spaces.

My appeal to the Minister is for him to leave a legacy on this, so that there is full accountability for waste that happens. Full accountability means that there is a cost to the individuals who are not protecting the public purse. If we do not have this cost, we are cursed to wake up to see these same stories repeat themselves.

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