Opera Ireland, the financially- troubled opera company, has been offered €1,378,700 above and beyond the amount identified in documents at Arts Council briefings in 2001 and earlier this year.
The sum, in the form of a public subsidy, would be spread over three years. Of this amount, €600,000 is accounted for by a supplementary grant provided by the Department of Arts and Heritage in December. That amount actually exceeded the extent of the company's declared deficit, which was in the region of €500,000. At the same time, the company's core Arts Council support over three years was actually €778,700 higher than the amount listed in tables supplied at two Arts Council media briefings.
Late last year, Opera Ireland was in trouble with its bankers over the unsustainability of its deficit, and came close to having to cancel its winter season at the Gaiety Theatre. It has since cut its forthcoming spring season (April 19th-28th), from two operas to one. Yet, despite this, and an average increase in public subsidy over three years of 56 per cent (85 per cent, if you include the supplementary grant), it is clear that the company's next winter season is not actually secure.
The Arts Council wrote to the company on February 14th last, stating: "It is very difficult for us to understand why Opera Ireland cannot present a Winter Season without seeking additional funding from bank borrowings or other sources."
Asked about the figures supplied to the media, the Arts Council's artform director, Mr Dermot McLaughlin, agreed the information "does contain an inaccuracy regarding Opera Ireland in that the period should have stated 2001-Sept 2002 rather than '2000-02'. I explain this as human error and nothing else."