Results 19,521-19,540 of 19,566 for speaker:Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Departmental Funding (10 Jun 2025)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: 718. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the funding stream whence the recent €25,000 allocation to the Listowel Writer’s Week Literary Festival came; if this funding opportunity was advertised and available to other arts festivals throughout the State; and if he will outline the application process and how funding allocations were decided....

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Departmental Schemes (10 Jun 2025)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: 875. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if he intends to reopen the diet supplement for new applicants who for medical reasons require gluten-free, low-lactose, milk-free, high-protein, high-calorie, or altered consistency diets; and the number of individuals estimated to require such diets and would satisfy the conditions for the scheme but are not in receipt as...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (11 Jun 2025)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I will continue with the Arts Council. I was looking through the sequence of events. The project started way back in May 2017. At that stage it was said "there was an increasing risk from hardware and software which was nearing the end of life, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to support and enhance some components of the architecture". Eight years later, given the failure of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (11 Jun 2025)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: Over the years, I have received quite a number of complaints about artists struggling with the system trying to deal with applications. Obviously that is worse if the Arts Council is dealing with a lot more money and staff. The witnesses also mentioned that part of the work on the system that was intended was not only around the customer interface or management but also finance which I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (11 Jun 2025)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I presume the off-the-shelf option has an annual cost rather than a once-off cost of the other system, which would have been controlled by the Arts Council. The off-the-shelf interfaced the two systems of finance and HR systems and then the customer database or management system. What is the cost expected to be?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (11 Jun 2025)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: When is the new system expected to go live? It was said the old system was clunky and needed to transfer it at some stage. This is so that the artists can be assured that there will be a new system and it will be managed better and maybe the Palestinians can apply because at the moment they cannot apply. If someone says he or she is a Palestinian artist, then he or she cannot apply.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (11 Jun 2025)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: How long has that request been with the Department?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (11 Jun 2025)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: With all this chaos and an increased budget to the Arts Council, there still is not a system that the witnesses would be happy with.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (11 Jun 2025)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I will turn to the Department. I have looked through the document recommendations. The biggest thing that comes out of it is how convoluted the process was. No organisation, whether it is under the Department of arts or many of the other Departments where we are finding out there are IT problems, should be expected to have the IT expertise. Is one of the key recommendations from this,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (11 Jun 2025)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: Like an IT expert?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (11 Jun 2025)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I will come back to it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (11 Jun 2025)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: Despite the figure being less than 1% of the Arts Council budget in that period, it is still a substantial amount of €6.7 million. Did any of the senior team of the Arts Council or of the Department in 2017, 2018 or 2019 look at or recommend the cheaper off-the-shelf model before the contracts were signed? That is key to much of this.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (11 Jun 2025)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I know there were people in the Arts Council and in the area suggesting an alternative. Was the business case made for an off-the-shelf model?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (11 Jun 2025)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: Who recommended the business case?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (11 Jun 2025)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: This is the director who also signed the business case to move to Westland Row. That collapsed at a cost to the Arts Council as well in that period.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (11 Jun 2025)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: There were costs involved in it. It was the same period. For a director of the Arts Council, is it the norm for a period to be extended? Is it for five years or two years? What is the norm?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (11 Jun 2025)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: When will the Department make a decision on the proposal for an off-the-shelf thing, given Mr. Anyanwu has said there are exposures there and action needs to be taken?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (11 Jun 2025)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: He could decide not to sanction it, the Arts Council would not function properly because of the clunky system and Mr. Anyanwu would have to cobble things together.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (11 Jun 2025)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: We had the same case in RTÉ. The HR system it is planning to buy is out of date already. That seems to be the way the Departments are working.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (11 Jun 2025)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh: I have a quick question. The answer can be "Yes" or "No". Was the dropping of "Arts" from the title of the Department the Minister's revenge on the Arts Council or was it because, as the media has said, he did not want the Department to have an acronym like "SCAM" or "SMACC"?