141. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if his Department has undertaken any analysis of the effectiveness of the basic income for the arts scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34056/25]
Sentiment score: 0.01
Aontú has supported the scheme from the outset. The reason we have done so is that, unfortunately, poverty and the arts are often synonymous. People who work in the arts probably have the most precarious work that exists in the country. Their lived experience is often the direct opposite of people's understanding of the glamour of the arts. The difficulty I have with this is that we have a project that has been going on for three years and we still do not have a decision on it from the Government. Absolutely we need time to evaluate and to make a decision but I have been long enough around here to have noticed that difficult decisions are often kicked down the road. I have a worry that only one quarter of the people who need this particular payment are in receipt of it. Now we will see another nine months pass without a decision being made on their experience. Theirs is probably the only sector of society which should get an income but whose income is decided on a random basis. It would be great to crystallise the decision as soon as possible.
Sentiment score: -0.05
137. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if his Department has conducted any value-for-money analysis of its spending on Galway 2020; if a breakdown is available on the way in which the €15 million spent by his Department on Galway 2020 was spent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34052/25]
Sentiment score: 0.01
One of my biggest frustrations and that of Aontú, in this Dáil and the previous one, is the waste of taxpayers' money and the lack of proper investigations and accountability. The Galway 2020 situation is an example of that. The difficulty with regard to waste is that it often becomes a crisis for a couple of weeks until the media cycle moves on and people forget about it. In the context of Exchequer funding to Galway 2020 and the Government’s decision for that not to exceed 50%, the Comptroller and Auditor General stated that the decision was not adhered to and that funding went far beyond that. He also said the disclosure of information was not forthcoming. Has there been a proper investigation into what happened with Galway 2020?
Sentiment score: -0.28
I thank the Minister. The independent auditor and its outcomes are in direct contradiction to the Comptroller and Auditor General. The project had received more than €20 million in State funding by 2023. The Minister's Department provided approximately €15 million; Galway City Council provided €3.7 million; Galway County Council provided €2.6 million; and the EU provided €1.5 million. The outcome of that was a number of resignations. Several resignations happened and people took cases to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC. There is no doubt that Galway is a fantastic city and that much of the money did good work to support local artists. Bad luck with weather and Covid-19 played a role in what happened to Galway 2020. Nevertheless, many people are not satisfied with the value-for-money aspect of the programme and that the Comptroller and Auditor General's questions are still outstanding. Does the Minister not have a concern about that?
Sentiment score: 0.09
It would be unfortunate if we were to insulate the expenditure from the Minister's Department from all of the other expenditure that came from this. A representative of Aontú in the area, Luke Silke, has done significant work on this matter. A large amount of money was spent. Taxpayers have had to fork out for this, even in the years subsequent to 2020. People were still paying for this in 2023. As soon as the Minister started his job, he came across the crisis in the Arts Council with the IT system that never functioned. Privately, he probably shares the same concerns as me around value for money and the waste that is happening in these spaces. My appeal to the Minister is for him to leave a legacy on this, so that there is full accountability for waste that happens. Full accountability means that there is a cost to the individuals who are not protecting the public purse. If we do not have this cost, we are cursed to wake up to see these same stories repeat themselves.
Sentiment score: -0.11