Arts Council wastes 7 mil

Gusser09

Laughs on the people who vote for these parties. You get what you deserve.

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123169007#Comment_123169007

Isn't it such a shame the alternative are worse.

Maybe by the next election cycle there will be a credible opposition.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123168765#Comment_123168765

You seem to have missed the point of the Arts Council. And indeed, of art.

itsacoolday

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123169207#Comment_123169207

Far from it. I enjoy supporting the arts in different ways. However some of the wasters whose lifestyle is supported by arts council funding simply do not deserve it. It is communist spending gone wrong. Waste of taxpayers hard earned money to those "in the know".

harryharry25

Arts council saying the Govt knew about this all along 🍿

kirving

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123168958#Comment_123168958

Exactly, I've seen it from friends who work in consultancy - who to be fair did try their best to deliver value.

I know for a fact that in one case, HSE funding was almost directed by an Excel Sheet another consultancy "Company X" knew was wrong but didn't want to admit it, so asked my friend in "Company Y" to take the rap for it which went about as well as you'd expect.

I say "almost", because in the end, the HSE manager didn't like the result anyway, and sent the money to his own locality….

Idbatterim

It's tragic, the legacy of this obscene amount, won't be infrastructure and housing etc... it will be, how much of it was squandered...

castletownman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123168938#Comment_123168938

I like nothing more than coming home from work and looking at an intrepretative painting of a local landscape whilst sipping tea from an over-priced hand-crafted mug.

I'd be lost without it quite frankly.

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123168191#Comment_123168191

It is indeed a massive scandal.

But in this country, of course again, huge sums of taxpayers money can be wasted and not a single person will be held to account.

Ah sure, it'll be grand. You get the government you vote for.

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123168938#Comment_123168938

Yet it's the person doing 12 hour days 7 days a week who is paying for the artist to do their art, maybe the person who is working 12 hours has a passion that doesn't get government hand outs so works to support it.

Why do artists need support when thousands of other careers or businesses don't? We are supporting artists yet every other trade is leaving the country.

Ash.J.Williams

I'm aware of a an arts Council grant system from years ago that worked fine, this sounds like somebody decided they needed something bigger (which they don't)

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123169599#Comment_123169599

Most reports and articles are saying the old system was antiquated and not fit for purpose any more.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123169518#Comment_123169518

By that logic maybe we should cut fund for all the sports you don't do..

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123169660#Comment_123169660

But it turned out it was the staff

ELM327

Much as I hate Elon, we need a DOGE over here too.

gmisk

People calling for DOGE to come to Ireland need to really look at what they have done in the US (in a very short period of time).

The cuts seem very much on a whim and at random. Cuts to areas like cancer research. Seemingly they want to close the CFDB. Hundreds of millions of food aid likely to go off.

People accessing vast swathes of personal data with no clearance. The people involved seem to be IT tech people with very little experience or qualifications to "audit" government departments.

Not to even get started on the absolute nonsense spouted from Elon Musk and others e.g. the condoms in Gaza.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/02/10/elon-musk-pushes-false-claim-ex-usaid-chief-earned-23-million-the-biggest-doge-hoaxes-spread-on-x/

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/us/politics/musk-doge-education-data.html

So he is cutting jobs, contracts left right and centre...but let's face it likely not for areas he is involved in of course...

This one at least on hold but for how long (clearly just due to the face it got out).

https://fortune.com/2025/02/13/armored-tesla-state-department-millions-elon-musk-ceo-doge/

Seemingly they will be auditing NASA, just a slight conflict of interest with Space X no?

https://fortune.com/2025/02/13/elon-musk-rich-taxpayer-expense/

Augme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123169580#Comment_123169580

Thousands of other careers and businesses do get support though. We're giving the NFL €10m to play one game for one day for example. The Government agreed to reduce VAT rates to support thousands of businesses, the government gives grants for buying houses, is talking about subsidies for property developers etc. I doubt you'll find any business in Ireland that has not, and doesn't, benefit from Government help and financial support. People doing apprenticeships are paid. Employers providing apprenticeships are also paid a grant to provide them.

Fabio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123169904#Comment_123169904

Very weird that people think the only solution is to bring in something like that jokeshop DOGE thing that that fascist scumbag Musk is pedalling.

ELM327

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123169904#Comment_123169904

I don't mean elon and his cronies, but a rational version of someone to audit goverment wastage.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123169599#Comment_123169599

It was out of support, and a cyber security risk. IT systems have a defined lifetime. When the underlying software tools on which the software is based go out of support, they need replacing.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123169229#Comment_123169229

Oh let's not try and rewrite history. What you said was that they were "no real use to the economy". The purpose of art in general and Arts Council funding in particular is NOT to be 'real use to the economy'. You seem confused between the Arts Council and the IDA.

Please do let us know which grants were given to those 'in the know' and which ones got grants they didn't deserve. Specific examples would help to show that you're not spoofing.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123169321#Comment_123169321

The detailed report produced by the parent Department makes it clear that the Department staff had access to project updates and board decisions. The question is now about what the Department staff did with that information.

castletownman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123169670#Comment_123169670

Sport? That at a recreational level still requires commitment to a time schedule, team work and self-discipline, nevermind the skill and fitness aspect? And then at a higher level again, getting up at all hours to make sacrifices.

Art pales in comparison. That peaked 200 years ago.

Montage of Feck

We have a department of welfare, or whatever it's called these days, surely all government payments should only come through it's system.

Royale with Cheese

My first IT job was working for a large consultancy in the public sector. We'd deliver them shít and then somehow manage to convince them that all the bugs were actually change requests due to the very specific wording in some document that was created out of a planning meeting 6 months prior, then charge them to fix them all. Definite cash cow mentality.

The consultancy didn't value tech skills at all either, the devs were all graduates (like me) or contractors who were willing to work for 100/day less than the going rate because this place just wasn't willing to pay any more.

gmisk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123169970#Comment_123169970

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123169959#Comment_123169959

What makes you think that this government will be able to bring in something that isn't basically another quango?

There is already DPER, OCAG and OGP who operate in this area.

My guess for this project is, it went via etenders had multiple tender responses, the requirements likely being too vague and open to interpretation, they evaluated and went with the one that scored best. The issues in my experience and there are many believe me.

Scoring tends to be weighted towards cost too much rather than what can be delivered. Lowest contract awarded then watch the CCNs rain. Certain companies are extremely adept at winning tenders and it is a skill.

The PS/CS lacks in really skilled project managers and techies in house to really analyse and hold the tenderers feet the flames. To do so they have to bring in overpaid contractors (who have a main aim to "land and expand").

"Generalists" for want of a better word get promoted way above their station within IT, despite having very little skill or aptitude in the required areas.

jmcc

The coverage from The Phoenix (broke the story), the Independent, the Irish Times and the Business Post has been quite good and has named the companies involved. It looks like a complete mess. This being Ireland, there will be "lessons learned", but very little consequences. There does seems to be a damage limitation process underway to confine the fallout to the Arts Council and the department. Some of what has emerged on the development process is quite worrying.

Regards…jmcc

Larbre34

Like all State agencies, semi-States and State sponsored bodies, the Arts Council has a Board. In this case, the Board is the Council itself. A Chair, a Deputy Chair and 12 ordinary members.

That Board, like all others, has sub-Committees, including most importantly, an Audit and Risk Committee.

It also has a Chief Executive and a Chief Financial Officer aka Financial Controller.

Now while the Government assigns budgets, the Boards of these bodies are recruited to do the job of operational oversight, and for skills very particular to that job. They will as a matter of course have a representative of the Department of Arts and Culture, other Financial and Legal Professionals, people from project management, education, artists etc. They are drilled in the responsibility of their role and in the pre-eminence of the Public Spending Code.

And so that 7 million Euro was wasted under the watch of at least 16 separate but collectively responsible people. Probably more if you account for those that leave and join Boards over a span of years.

I don't know if the Arts Council falls under the Comptroller and Auditor General, but if like RTÉ, it did not, then it certainly should asap by legislation.

And so its over to the Public Accounts Committee to drag in all 16+ of these people and start kicking over some tables.

If it means 16+ heads roll and some or all of them are found to have been incompetent, negligent, corrupt or otherwise deficient, then so be it. Thats the price.

Ash.J.Williams

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123169976#Comment_123169976

I know , but that's not my point , you don't blow 7m on nothing

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123170102#Comment_123170102

Don't think anyone is justifying the obvious screw ups, but they were absolutely right to look to replace their decade old systems.

It looks to me that their huge, fundamental mistake was to take the advice of the private sector consultants who told them to build a custom grant management platform instead of taking one of the commercial off-the-shelf systems that were available at the time.

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123170084#Comment_123170084

I admire your confidence, but this is Ireland. Look at recent history with the NCH and RTE. Politicians will emote and claim to be angry, buzzword driven spoofers will say how things could have been done better, opinion columns will be written about government waste. Perhaps a few people might be moved sideways or even fired. Beyond that, little will change.

Regards…jmcc

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123169938#Comment_123169938

Yet everyday people wind up businesses that were their dreams. Why are artists allowed to have a non viable job and get government support when a cafe has to close, if the chef said they were making art they'd be supported but making food doesn't get supported.

Big spots should get zero government support. They are businesses and make billions while constantly looking for governments to fund them. The money going to the NFL would build a lot of sports infrastructure around the country instead of subsidising a sport we don't even play.