Results 21,261-21,280 of 21,357 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: 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.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: So what Mr. Ó Coigligh is saying to all of us in the committee, and this is new information, is that outside of the information and outside of the fact the Arts Council director escalated this to the Department, and I accept that there is correspondence at various different levels on about 59 occasions, essentially outside of all that there was no correspondence, communication or...
- 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 bloody well incredible. That would not have happened in my day and I am gone from IT since 2007.
- 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 going to ask the question, "How will you make sure it will not happen again?".
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)
Alan Kelly: Can I ask whether Mr. Coigligh has any regret regarding the handling of this and the subsequent decision not to reappoint the director?