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Full coverage: arts council

Review sheds light on Art Council’s chances of recouping spend on failed €6.5m IT project

Legal files examined by the review team show the council was warned as early as June 2023 that it faced an uphill battle to recover costs paid to consultants due to “numerous deficiencies” on its side.

Niall Sargent
28th Jan, 2026 - 6 min read

Inflection points to failure: The missed chances to halt Art Council’s €6.5m runaway IT disaster in its tracks

Niamh Brennan’s 270-page forensic report lays bare the management and governance problems at the embattled agency, as well as poor departmental oversight, which saw the project go astray over six years.

Niall Sargent
23rd Jan, 2026 - 11 min read

City of Dublin Education and Training Board writes off €1.1m on “overly complex” student grant IT project

CDETB is the latest state-funded body after the Arts Council and RTÉ to release details of seven-figure problems with IT projects in the last year.

Niall Sargent
9th Jan, 2026 - 3 min read

Hidden risk: Opacity over key risks facing State bodies a dangerous game

Risk registers and internal governance audits are rarely, if ever, released to the public, with no oversight of the key real-world risks facing public bodies until they become reality – and headline news.

Niall Sargent
13th Oct, 2025 - 5 min read

Data watchdog to contact Arts Council about GDPR concern with grant forms

A senior manager raised concerns in February about how sensitive personal details in applications forms for a 2025 bursary were handled internally. The agency says the issue was examined and resolved.

Niall Sargent
7th Jul, 2025 - 2 min read

Concern raised within Arts Council over protection of sensitive personal data in grant forms

Internal records show a senior manager raised the alarm in February that the agency could not give an “assurance of confidentiality” based on how bursary applicant forms are stored internally and shared with assessors. The agency says that the GDPR concern was “successfully resolved”.

Niall Sargent
4th Jul, 2025 - 5 min read

John Collins: RTÉ and Arts Council fiascos show the State is still far away from best practice on IT projects

The recent revelations that the Arts Council and RTÉ both wrote down millions on large IT projects suggests that the lessons of the past with other failed State-led technology projects have still not been learnt.

John Collins
23rd Jun, 2025 - 10 min read

Arts Council forced to return €2.8m in leftover energy grants 

The agency had to return the funding after its parent department refused a request to repurpose the remaining funds and support the arts community to cover increased costs during the inflationary crisis.

Niall Sargent
10th Jun, 2025 - 4 min read

Maureen Kennelly to step down as Arts Council director

Kennelly will leave her position once Oireachtas committee scrutiny of the State agency's failed IT project concludes, the Arts Council board said in a statement this morning.

Niall Sargent
28th May, 2025 - 2 min read

In the firing line: The questions that PAC should have for the Arts Council

Director Maureen Kennelly’s oversight of the agency's failed IT project will likely be raised at the committee on Thursday. Senior department officials should also be quizzed about what they knew and when.

Niall Sargent
28th May, 2025 - 7 min read
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