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Departmental Funding

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 October 2021

Tuesday, 5 October 2021

Questions (5)

Catherine Connolly

Question:

5. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media her plans to commission research or analysis into the way the €15 million provided by her Department to Galway 2020 was spent; her plans to publish any such analysis; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47905/21]

View answer

Oral answers (7 contributions)

Baineann mo cheist le Gaillimh 2020. An bhfuil sé beartaithe aon anailís a dhéanamh ar an €15 milliún atá caite? My question relates to Galway 2020. Does the Department intend to carry out any analysis off its own bat with regard to the €15 million, given the recent chapter from the Comptroller and Auditor General?

To date, €14 million has been drawn down from the total commitment of €15 million from my Department to the European Capital of Culture. Of this €14 million drawn down, €13 million has been spent on the development, production and delivery of the key projects under the Galway 2020 cultural programme, most of which were set out in the original winning bid book.

From the date of signing in November 2018 of the performance delivery agreement between my Department and Galway 2020, and as per the terms of the agreement, my Department has and continues to be in regular receipt of detailed information on how funding from my Department is spent. This information includes comprehensive quarterly management reports providing progress updates on all aspects of the Galway 2020 project, including the cultural programme, as well as a breakdown of project income and expenditure, which is confirmed through quarterly checks by an independent auditor. Relevant quarterly reports are reviewed by my Department as part of the controls in place in advance of the approval of funding drawdowns.

Furthermore, under the terms of my approval in July 2020 of the restructured cultural programme for Galway 2020, which was developed in the wake of the impact of the pandemic on activity, my Department meets with Galway 2020 on a fortnightly basis to discuss and review project progress. Also under the terms of the approval, my Department received a monthly written report from September 2020 to April this year on all cultural programme projects supported by Department funding. This monthly report provided information on events planned and delivered, health and safety measures in place, identified risks and mitigation, communications and audience development measures.

In addition, the cultural partners supported from Department funding are completing post-project evaluations with Galway 2020. These evaluations provide information on the numbers employed in each project, the number of events held, partnerships developed, audience numbers, volunteers engaged and income and expenditure. My Department receives and reviews the reports as they are completed.

Finally, and as advised to the Deputy on the floor on 22 June last, the overall monitoring and evaluation programme of Galway 2020 is now at an advanced stage. The final report from this programme, scheduled for delivery before year end, will include results on the number of cultural organisations supported, the jobs created to deliver the programme, new projects commissioned, events held, audience numbers and a breakdown of the total income and expenditure.

The advantage of being Leas-Cheann Comhairle is that I have read the answer. Forgive me, therefore, for being a little impatient because the Minister has not addressed my question. Does the Department intend to carry out an analysis, bearing in mind the 12 very succinct pages from the Comptroller and Auditor General, who pointed out that the Department had a nominee on the broad of directors but that nominee never received any minutes and had no role? The report stated that there was a nominee on the board with no role and that "the Department did not receive the terms of reference of the sub-committees of the Board, minutes of Board meetings ... [and so on]".

There has been a high turnover of personnel. Of the 28 original people, there are only two left. In addition, a declaration that was necessary regarding co-funding was never forthcoming. Where the funding was conditional on money coming from the private sector, that was not included. The performance delivery agreement did not include that it was conditional. There are serious questions here for the Department. I say that reluctantly because I sat on the Committee of Public Accounts. I drew to the Department's attention what happened regarding the pictiúrlann in Galway where the cost escalated. The Department was to learn from that.

The Deputy raised a number of questions to answer in one minute. All European Capital of Culture designations carry with them a wide range of challenges in delivering on their broad objectives, and, in the case of Galway 2020, these challenges have been made more acute by the global pandemic.

Nonetheless, even against this challenging background, much was achieved. Some 350 Irish-based artists and other cultural professionals completed their projects and delivered commissioned original work with more than 500 events delivered online or to live audiences.

I am completely supportive of the highest levels of transparency and accountability in the use of public funds. That is why my Department continues to meet with Galway 2020 to assess outcomes as part of its ongoing monitoring role. In addition, I welcome the scrutiny that my Department's expenditure received by the Comptroller and Auditor General and note that my Department is committed to the implementation of the recommendations set out in his report.

I look forward the report of the Audience Agency, which is carrying out the evaluation under the Galway 2020 monitoring evaluation framework. This excise, which will capture feedback from a wide range of stakeholders, will inform decisions on the purpose to which the remaining legacy funding will be applied. This is my principal focus at present.

The analysis being undertaken is costing €200,000. I asked about the Department. Let us consider what the Comptroller and Auditor General said. Recommendation 7.1 states that, "The Department should put in place robust controls to ensure compliance of future grantees with relevant grant management and reporting requirements". We have a situation where the Department is a nominee on the board of directors but is unaware of anything, which begs the question: why is there a nominee at all on the board?

The second matter is the 50% of funding being conditional on private funding. It was not included in the performance delivery agreement nor could it be explained to the Comptroller and Auditor General. I am paraphrasing from the report as to why that was not done. I welcome that there was a new Secretary General and a hands-on approach regarding this but somewhere along the line, we got deflected with Covid-19 and the bad weather. I agree they have been particularly difficult but that does not take from the absence of robust controls.

With regard to the reference to 50%, in the 2014 decision by Government to exercise Ireland's right to nominate a city to be Ireland's 2020 European Capital of Culture, it was noted by Government that Exchequer funding would not exceed 50% of its overall financial costs. The €15 million in funding for the Department was subsequent included by the Government in Project Ireland 2040, the national planning framework without a provision to limit percentages in respect of overall costs.

Notwithstanding this, the impact of Covid-19 on Galway 2020 activity and funding resulted in significant anticipated funding not materialising. This included in excess of €1 million in local authority funding, partnership funding and box receipts. This directly and substantially contributed to the Department funding exceeding 50% of its overall costs.

My clear focus for Galway 2020 has been to maximise the potential for culture and creativity in Galway and the surrounding region. It would be unconscionable to withdraw support at a time projects had been years in development and were days, weeks or months from delivery. I am aware that the Deputy brought up other issues regarding the Comptroller and Auditor General's report. The time has run out but I am quite happy to follow up in writing with the officials.

I thank the Minister. I do not see Deputy Colm Burke so I propose to move to Question No. 7, which will be put by Deputy Devlin.

Question No. 6 replied to Written Answers.
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