On Tuesday, the PAC published the report into the 2023 accounts of what was the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

The report also includes an examination of the 2023 financial statements of the Arts Council and the National Gallery of Ireland. It comes after an IT project by the Arts Council was terminated in 2024 after costs hit €6.7 million and resulted in the loss of €5.3 million.

Separately the National Gallery of Ireland spent €125,000 on an X-ray machine in 2017 but has remained unused because a suitable location for the machine has not been found.

A number of issues were identified in the report, including a “lack of project management capacity, particularly for ICT projects within the Arts Council”

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