Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 January 2026
616. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport the number of liaison meetings that took place between the Arts Council and his Department since 2020 which were not clearly minuted as described by the Brennan Report; and if this practice has been replaced by detailed minuting. [4149/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraFollowing receipt by the Department of the 2023 Arts Council Annual Report in late June 2024, the Secretary General of the Department initiated an examination of the Arts Council Business Transformation Project on 24 July 2024 that was finalised on 6 February 2025. The detailed examination of the project included a number of key findings and recommendations.
In this context, and following on from the IPA Review of the Department’s Arrangements for the Oversight of State Bodies in 2024, the interim Director, Dr Moling Ryan, has been working with the Department to restructure and reform the quarterly liaison meetings. I am satisfied that liaison meetings are now properly minuted but I am not in a position to determine, on a case by case basis, the standard of any particular set of minutes in the period referred to by the Deputy. For information, a total of fifteen liaison meetings were held between the Department and the Arts Council from 2020 to 2024 inclusive.
