Arts Council ‘greatly regrets’ €6.7m failed IT project spend & Maureen Kennelly to step down as director after hearings, Nothing Happens, 7 Million Gone, and Nobody, will be held Accountable.

A parallel review of the department’s internal governance operations is also under way.

The Arts Council has come under fire after it emerged it splashed €6.7million on a new grants management system, which was subsequently abandoned following multiple delays and complications.

The project was to see five separate IT portals dating from 2008 amalgamated into one centralised grants management system but it was botched and never delivered.

An initial investigation by the Department of Arts, published last February, found the council had not been prepared for the scale of the project and it had not put in place resources to deliver it.

Amid the fallout, the State agency was blasted by Arts Minister Patrick O’Donovan, who expressed his “deep concern”.

Arts Council chair Maura McGrath told how members of the body were appearing before the PAC ‘to be accountable for our actions

Officials from the council appeared before the Public Accounts Committee today.

Arts Council chair Maura McGrath today told how members of the body were appearing before the PAC “to provide full transparent information, to be accountable for our actions”.

But Ms McGrath also took a swipe at the Government over the fiasco.

She insisted the controversial project “was not and is not an optional extra”.