Botched IT project has many markers of bike shed and RTÉ saga

Good morning,

The latest State spending controversy to emerge revolves around the loss of €5.3 million on a non-functioning digital transformation project which was supposed to overhaul the system for processing millions in grant funding for artists. The transformation, it seems, was less state of the art and more state of the Arts (Council), at least in the verdict of the political system.

Cabinet was briefed on the botched IT project by Minister for Arts and Media Patrick O’Donovan on Wednesday, and there is no shortage of vivid brush strokes in today’s colourful coverage about the fury among senior politicians over the “waste of money”. There’s no doubt this one will hang around: expect haste among committee chairs once appointed to haul in the dramatis personae – with O’Donovan not sparing his own department a public and private dressing down.

The controversy has many of the markers of recent high-profile overspending scandals: the Children’s Hospital, the Oireachtas bike shed, the RTÉ saga. Whether it reaches those heights remains to be seen, but both Opposition and Government got stuck in yesterday. For the Coalition, it’s convenient that political responsibility for the department and the Arts Council was with the Green Party’s Catherine Martin at the time – having a controversy to sink its teeth into might even galvanise the Coalition a bit. However, it will also undoubtedly further damage public perceptions about State efficiency and aptitude – and as has been seen with the bike shed, the costs of that tend to accrue to the political class, and more specifically the government, sooner or later.

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Meanwhile, a bitter row broke out in the Dáil between the Taoiseach and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald over Micheál Martin’s cupla focal, after she said he had accused her of “telling lies” (“ag insint bréaga”) in the chamber. McDonald is unwilling to leave this one go, writing to the Ceann Comhairle on Wednesday. It came after a two hour debate on housing initiated by the Labour Party (at times, the Government benches had only one deputy present – with either junior ministers John Cummins and Christopher O’Sullivan present).

We should get used to this – a constant backdrop of the housing crisis, punctuated by sharp conflicts and sporadic controversies – as the mise en scène for politics in the coming years.

Best reads

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Playbook

The last day of the first full week of the 34th Dáil kicks off with parliamentary questions for Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Jack Chambers, from 9am to midday, when Simon Harris will take Leaders’ Questions. Questions on policy or legislation follows, while in the afternoon, there will be statements on road safety and then topical issues shortly after 4pm.

Here’s the full schedule.

The Seanad gets down to business proper at 10.30am with the Order of Business, before legislation governing the appointment of three new Ministers of State works its way through the upper house before lunchtime.

The full schedule is here.

Ministerial outings include Helen McEntee and Michael Moynihan, who will be launching the Summer Programme 2025 in Dublin mid morning. James Lawless is launching a new Modern Methods of Construction skills pathway in Co Offaly. The Taoiseach is at Google Ireland to present disadvantaged students with scholarships to STEM subjects.

Micheál Martin is also expected to meet with the new disability unit set up in his department today, while there’s a ministerial meeting scheduled to plan for future storms.