Former Abbey Theatre co-directors Graham McLaren and Neil Murray have issued a public statement about payments made to them in 2021 “to address mistaken impressions”.
The pair, who ran the national theatre from 2016 to 2021, outline the sums they received from the Abbey and how they repeatedly raised concerns about “spiralling legal costs and related breaches of internal controls” by Abbey board members.
They also point to a related report on governance at the theatre that was completed by consultancy firm Crowe more than six months ago. The report still has not been released.
The statement relates to events five years ago during the tenure of the former co-directors, and the Abbey board’s handling of both the change of directors and what is euphemistically called a “HR investigation”, drawn-out over two years, into three complaints made by former employees about separate incidents involving McLaren.
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Neither issue has been satisfactorily explained and it is expected that the unpublished Crowe report will shed some light on them.
The former directors’ statement on social media website X (formerly Twitter) appeared on a joint McLaren-Murray account created this month and was posted in response to an Irish Times editorial.
Their statement says after they raised concerns about “the recruitment process to restructure and appoint a new leadership team”, the board offered redundancy packages of €63,333 each, comprising an ex gratia redundancy payment of €51,814.30, €6,600 in statutory redundancy, and a pension contribution of €4,919.14.
Their five-year term as directors ran its full course.
The statement says simultaneously the Abbey board “made a settlement sum of €110,000 to Graham McLaren in compensation for the distress and suffering he endured as a result of an erroneous and protracted two-year HR process, conceived and instigated by the board itself and led by the chair of the board, Dr Frances Ruane”.
— mclarenandmurray (@NMurrayGMcLaren) July 10, 2024
The statement says that the board issued an “unreserved” written apology to McLaren for their handling of “unsubstantiated” complaints.
It is believed there was no resolution or settlement for the three complainants following the protracted “HR investigation”.
The former directors say their concerns were frequently disregarded by the chair and board and in June 2020 “while we remained in post” they wrote to the Arts Council, the Comptroller and Auditor General, and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to “raise our grave concern as to the use of public funds”.
They also made a protected disclosure to the Minister for Culture and Arts Catherine Martin in June 2022, a year after departing.
The statement says the Minister declined to pursue an investigation, but “her response was to reappoint Dr Ruane” as chair and “to rely on the outcome of” the independent review of governance arrangements and policies at the Abbey by consultants Crowe “which, we understand, was completed and submitted to the Abbey Theatre over six months ago, in December 2023″.
Their statement this week says when they left three years ago, the board had spent “approximately €500,000 on legal and consultancy fees” on the “erroneous HR process”.
[ Abbey Theatre to go dark until autumn after its next play endsOpens in new window ]
By last November, costs, primarily legal fees, related to these had topped €1 million and were still rising.
Meanwhile, some 20 per cent of the national theatre’s State investment of €8 million last year was withheld by the Arts Council pending receipt of two related Abbey Theatre reports, of which - the DCU Business School culture audit into the theatre - was published in December 2023.
The governance report has still not been released by the theatre, and further funding was withheld this year. After its production of The Sugar Wife, which is getting a great audience response, ends on July 20th, the Abbey has no in-house production for two months.
While the executive and board are largely new, Dr Ruane is the main remaining link with knowledge and experience of the controversial events still overshadowing the national theatre. Her term is due to end on July 28th.
In response to queries from The Irish Times, the Abbey said the theatre had no comment to make on the statement of its former directors.
Asked what was causing the delay in sending the long-completed Crowe report on governance to the Arts Council, the theatre said: “This is currently being progressed.”
The Abbey has previously declined to confirm whether it will make the governance report public.
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