Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Leader to arrange for the Minister with responsibility for the arts, Deputy Catherine Martin, to come before the House at the earliest opportunity to outline her views on recent media coverage regarding the practice of the Arts Council of funding lucrative consultancy work for former employees. In particular, it would be important that the Minister would be able to assure the House that such well paying work is awarded, whether directly or indirectly, in line with proper oversight and consonant with good governance and best practice. It would be equally important that the Minister would comment on how one particular ex-Arts Council insider should this year have been paid €15,000 of Arts Council money to produce a four-page report that resulted in the near destruction of one of the country's oldest and most successful arts festivals. The role of the Arts Council in all of this remains murky and opaque. According to the weekend media, there is a clear overlap between this appointment and the scandalous mismanagement and collapse of the Temple Bar Trust which at the time cost taxpayers dearly and left a sour taste in the mouths of Dublin City Council and other stakeholders.