Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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923. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to other State agencies and if his own Government Department have used any of the same IT services providers as the Arts Council (details supplied) and have experienced cost overruns or encountered delays or other issues with them; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11935/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The issues raised in the report on the examination of the Arts Council Business Transformation Programme that was commissioned by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport & Media, are a matter for that Department and I would draw attention to the action being taken by Minister O’Donovan who has recently announced an external review of the governance and organisational culture in the Arts Council and a review of his Department’s internal governance operations.

My Department has an ICT Governance Committee which is a sub-committee of the Management Board that meets regularly to facilitate the Department delivering on its strategic objectives through considering and making recommendations to the Management Board on future ICT strategy and key policies; assessing proposed ICT projects and initiatives to ensure that they meet the Department’s strategic imperatives; overseeing ICT-related financial governance, projects and activities; and providing support and oversight on the implementation of key ICT transformation initiatives.

My Department also publishes a register of all public contracts awarded over €25,000 (excluding VAT). This information is published annually and can be found at: www.gov.ie/en/collection/14085-public-contracts-awarded-over-25000-euro/. As this shows, in recent years there has been engagement with some IT suppliers who I understand were listed in the Arts Council report, including the one referenced.

This particular contract relates to the provision of a Housing Programme Management Software as a Service (SaaS) Solution as part of a wider digital transformation project led by the Department with relevant stakeholders (including the local authorities) to introduce more streamlined, efficient and automated processes and enhanced reporting capabilities.

The contract was entered into in 2023 following a competitive public procurement process conducted in accordance with the European Union (Award of Public Authority Contracts) Regulations 2016 (Statutory Instrument 284 of 2016) and with the support of the Office of Government Procurement.

The digital transformation project is proceeding according to plan and, due to its size and nature, is subject to rigorous governance protocols including regular review by a Project Board (comprised of internal and external stakeholders) as well as an independent Peer Review group appointed in compliance with D/PER Circular 14/2021 (Arrangements for Oversight of Digital and ICT-related Initiatives in the Civil and Public Service).