An Irish industrial folly spawns a new generation of cutting-edge creativity
Galway International Arts Festival 2025: Interface’s This Too Will Pass, at the Carrolls salmon hatchery, and Funeral for Ashes, by Conor Maloney and John Conneely
Arts Council
Arts Council almost doubles legal costs on botched IT project
Council asked to cease any further expenditure on legal cases, Oireachtas committee hears
Former Arts Council director Maureen Kennelly: ‘The Minister saw the opportunity for a scalp. I was an easy target’
The botched IT project abandoned at a loss of €5.3m effectively cost Maureen Kennelly her job. She believes the Government has unfairly discredited her reputation
Arts Council was stopped three times from spending money on outside partners after botched IT project
Chair also declared conflict of interest over grant to publisher of husband’s work
Venice Architecture Biennale 2025: Ireland presents an elegantly complex take on a richly simple idea
The Irish pavilion is a standout in an otherwise patchy 19th biennale
Another week, another war: Trump pivots from America first to talk of a bunker buster
Your essential end-of-week politics catch up: AIB buys back all its shares, while politicians tear strips off Children’s Health Ireland representatives in front of an Oireachtas committee
Minister admonished for bringing ‘substantial’ issues to Cabinet without telling colleagues
Failed Arts Council IT project one of two issues brought to Cabinet ‘under the arm’, senior official said
Potential new names for the Department of Arts: Smacc, Cacs, Scam and – my favourite – DoSac
Rebrand to the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport is an artless move that speaks volumes
Arts Council wrote to officials almost 60 times over botched IT project without issue being escalated
Council told to stop spending money on legal cases aimed at recouping some of €6.75m lost on project, Oireachtas committee hears
Arts Council ‘deeply regrets’ Minister’s decision on director’s contract
Minister decides against appointing Maureen Kennelly for further five years
Inside Ireland’s music festival industry: ‘You can haemorrhage money very quickly’
For promoters, there are risks, tight margins and pinch points. Still, as the summer season begins, optimism prevails
Minister objected to second term for Arts Council director amid fallout over botched IT project
Governing body taking legal action to try to recoup €4m, Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee told
Minister did not consent to second term for Arts Council director Maureen Kennelly, PAC told
Department of Arts ‘should have called it out earlier’, Public Accounts Committee told over Arts Council’s €6.7m botched IT system
Arts Council director Maureen Kennelly to stand down in wake of botched IT contract
Council is due to appear before Public Accounts Committee on Thursday concerning failed €6.7m project
Arts Council takes legal action against contractors in €6.7m IT project
Fury erupted in Government in February when it emerged the council had scrapped plans for a programme joining five existing systems
Paul Durcan obituary: Being a poet was all consuming for him
Being a poet was all consuming for him. His main pursuit in life, it defined his everyday interactions
Remembering the many talents of broadcaster, activist and historian Máire de Paor
Committed socialist and feminist lived through a time when attitudes to women in Irish society were decidedly narrow
RTÉ confirms €3.6m write down on partly abandoned IT project
Broadcaster says problem with project to revamp finance and HR systems ‘an outlier’ in context of operations
New PAC chair says looking into Arts Council’s €6.7m abandoned IT system is priority
Sinn Féin’s John Brady says Public Accounts Committee will examine many of the recent controversies surrounding spending by State bodies
Fedora Prize 2025: Irish composer Michael Gallen wins €100,000 award for new opera
The Curing Line, which is due to premiere at Kilkenny Arts Festival in 2026, has scooped one of the world’s largest opera awards
Behind the scenes at Luail as Ireland’s national dance company prepares to open Dublin Dance Festival
Artistic director Liz Roche has programmed Chora, a triple bill. ‘The dancers are constantly shifting focus and vocabularies, which really requires agility’
Oireachtas committee chair appointments under way ahead of Dáil return next week
Dispute over speaking time for Independent TDs had held up decisions to hand out key roles with €10,880 salary top-up
Golden Fleece Award 2025: ‘I was skint last year, and it affected my head so badly. Winning this means a huge amount’
Sasha Sykes and Sarah Browne have won €10,000 each. What do prizes like this one do for artists’ creativity?
Shona McCarthy, the Irish woman running the world’s biggest arts festival, is heading home: ‘I’m tired. You feel it to your bones’
After 35 years of nonstop work, this ardent advocate for the arts is about to catch her breath
The Samantha Cookes story: Inside the mind of a pathological liar
Living in Ireland for a decade, the compulsive liar - now in prison for social welfare fraud - deceived almost everyone she met
Serial fraudster Samantha Cookes’s funding applications considered by Arts Council on ‘artistic merit’
Cookes secured €36,250 in Arts Council grants between 2021 and 2022
The Irish Times view on wasteful spending: symptoms of a larger problem
None of these cases casts the individuals or organisations involved in a flattering light.
‘Perhaps someone from the Minister’s office might pick up the phone to the National Gallery?'
X-ray scanner at centre of controversy is piece of equipment that an ambitious art gallery should have
Lynne Parker: The Abbey does so much. But Ireland needs a national theatre for the 21st century
The future of Irish theatre looks bleak. It’s time to overhaul the way the sector works – including where the money goes, says Rough Magic’s artistic director
Arts Council review to include role of auditors and accountability of board
Prof Niamh Brennan will lead the review, while a parallel review will be conducted of the Department of Arts and Culture itself
Gardaí investigate ‘alleged financial irregularities’ in Limerick high-wire dance troupe
Fidget Feet has received more than €1.15 million from the Arts Council since 2022
Arts Council spent more than €9m on consultants since 2019
Differences emerge between council and department over timing of warning about botched IT project
High fees for consultants in failed Arts Council computer project
IT firms have extensive work with government departments
Who’s who in the controversy over Arts Council spending?
Extent of losses from failed IT project only disclosed last summer, statement from Catherine Martin suggests
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How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
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