Results 201-220 of 21,489 for speaker:Alan Kelly
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: There is a lag there.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: I know. Just to be clear - and this is for clarity rather than in my time - when the council representatives were in here, at that time there was the €60,000 and they were not aware of the subsequent figure. Would that be accurate?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: I understand that. Mr. Kelly is saying they could have said €60,000 plus whatever the piece we had already commissioned before the Department told them to stop. At the time though, what the council representatives were actually aware of was just the €60,000. Is that correct?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: Senator, just for the record, will you withdraw the word?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: Yes.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: Okay, but from the officials' conversation last Thursday - I am trying to get to the bottom of this because four or five people have been at it now - Mr. Kelly got a phone call to say the bill was €119,000.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: Okay, so we understand that bills lag and we understand there was a date where the Department said "No more". We also know there was other work commissioned prior to the Department saying "No more". Are we all together on that bit? However, a bill came in subsequent to that work.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: We would have to take it - we will clarify with the Arts Council through the clerk - that presumably that bill came in after the council was in here. By the sounds of things it was fairly recent.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: Okay, we will clarify that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: We discussed that earlier. It was just in relation to the fact work had been commissioned before the Department said "Stop".
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: That is a long one. That is a six-mark one.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: Mr. Kelly can just send us all that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: I have a few questions. On 3 August 2023 there was correspondence from the former director to the PO. It said the capital budget for the project has been agreed at a figure that is blanked. It is like "Blankety Blank". What is the blank?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: Yes. It is redacted, so I would like to know what the figure is. Just the figure.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: Okay. The Secretary General said the loss of €5.3 million was a bolt out of the blue, or I am paraphrasing. It says in the email that the capital budget for the project had been agreed at €6.6 million.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: That was the year beforehand.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: How was it a bolt out of the blue that €5.3 million-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: I am not sure about the language used in that, if I am being honest and fair as regards the shock element. I think there was an awareness in relation to the scale of this project. My real issue here is about the escalation procedure. In fairness to Mr. Ó Coigligh, in his statement he has apologised, I have to acknowledge that, and he has apologised in a pretty comprehensive way. I...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: Is that not dangerous that pressure?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: They were looking for help. We can all see that in writing. They were looking for significant help but at a certain level in the Department there was capture and no one called halt and no one escalated.