{"id":649436,"date":"2026-08-21T18:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T18:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/649436\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T18:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T18:06:13","slug":"new-arts-council-chief-takes-on-a-troubled-organisation-in-tough-political-climate-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/649436\/","title":{"rendered":"New Arts Council chief takes on a troubled organisation in tough political climate \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shona McCarthy, the new director of the Arts Council<\/a>, was looking forward to taking some time off last year. She had just stepped down as chief executive of the society that runs Edinburgh Festival Fringe<\/a>, the world\u2019s largest arts festival, and said she planned to take three months to \u201cwalk the beach and watch the hawthorn come on the hedges on the Antrim coast\u201d.<\/p>\n

This sounds peaceful and restorative. Leading the council is unlikely to prove quite so calming. The experienced, respected McCarthy, who is from Ballycran in Co Down, has been appointed to her role after a period of turmoil at the organisation, which has been dealing with the fallout of its failed, wasteful information technology project.<\/p>\n

The council\u2019s revelation in February 2025 that it spent \u20ac6.7 million on the project led to clashes with Minister for Culture Patrick O\u2019Donovan<\/a>. The Minister refused to approve a second term for the council\u2019s former director, Maureen Kennelly, who inherited the project and tried to rescue it. She subsequently objected to being \u201cjudged\u201d by the Minister before the findings of his independent review of the debacle.<\/p>\n

This expert review later uncovered a council afflicted by acrimony, \u201cstrained interpersonal relationships\u201d and factional behaviour at senior levels. It also highlighted a \u201clack of corporate memory\u201d, with few people at the council fully understanding the project, which led to a sum of \u20ac5.3 million being written off as a loss.<\/p>\n

McCarthy, whose appointment was approved by O\u2019Donovan this week, must now strive to improve morale at the council, which remains saddled with its old, outdated IT system for processing grant applications from arts organisations countrywide. But her task is a double one, as retaining the support of a Minister who is not reluctant to speak his mind will be another challenge.<\/p>\n

Beyond the headline-grabbing world of disastrous outlays on technology \u2013 a tripwire not unique to the council \u2013 there is the perennial question of adequate funding for its programmes.<\/p>\n

During her time in Scotland, where she led the fringe society for a decade, McCarthy successfully lobbied the Scottish government to obtain direct public funding for the infrastructure of the festival for the first time. She will need those skills in Dublin.<\/p>\n

She arrives at a council that has undergone rapid, destabilising expansion \u2013 including a surge in its budget from \u20ac80 million in 2020 to \u20ac134 million in 2024 \u2013 but has, more recently still, had its wings clipped. In Budget 2026, its annual funding remained at \u20ac140 million, a record level but ominously the same sum it received in 2025.<\/p>\n

The political climate may not be much friendlier in Budget 2027, while it is possible that the Minister\u2019s extension of the Basic Income for the Arts Scheme<\/a>, which is run by his department, could ultimately siphon some power away from the council.<\/p>\n

Its chairwoman, Maura McGrath, says McCarthy\u2019s appointment continues the \u201cprocess of renewal\u201d at the organisation. This process will accelerate in the months ahead, judging by the timelines set out in its plan to implement the recommendations of the independent review.<\/p>\n

Some of the aspirations in this implementation plan seem modest. One stated \u201cambition\u201d, for example, is for the senior management team to become a \u201chigh performing and effective leadership group that operates cohesively and collaboratively and is focused on the professional delivery of the strategic objectives of the organisation\u201d, which might make some people wonder afresh what exactly it was they were doing before. This is followed by a note about new meeting protocols and training, while the word \u201cclarity\u201d is mentioned often.<\/p>\n

The artists of Ireland, who depend on that clarity, will be wishing McCarthy, a proven champion of the arts, enormous luck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shona McCarthy, the new director of the Arts Council, was looking forward to taking some time off last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[75],"tags":[42383,52,18,117,553,19,17,36103],"class_list":["post-649436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-arts-council","tag-dublin","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-fine-gael","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-patrick-o-donovan"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117134831628806102","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}