Galway 2020 accused of ‘making it up as it went along’
Galway 2020 – the company set up to deliver the European Capital of Culture – repeated the mistakes made by Cork when Ireland last held the designation 15 years ago, the Public Accounts Committee has heard.
Cork North Central TD, Colm Burke (FG) told a sitting of the Dáil watchdog that Galway 2020 was ‘making it up as it went along’.
Deputy Burke, who was Lord Mayor of Cork when it was Capital of Culture in 2005/2006, was questioning officials of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, which funded Galway 2020 to the tune of €15 million.
He told the PAC: “The same mistakes seem to have been made in Galway as were made in Cork. Surely the Department should have a protocol in place so there is a clear plan about projects like this, rather than trying to make them up as we go along because that seems to have happened in Galway.
“The same thing happened in Cork, to be upfront about it, and we’d get a far better delivery on these projects if we had a clear plan rather than making it up as we go along.”
Katherine Licken, Secretary General at the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media replied that lessons had been learned from Cork.
She said that Limerick held a national capital of culture designation in 2014 and there was a review of that which “absolutely fed into Galway 2020”.
Ms Licken insisted the Department had “very robust governance arrangements”, and “there was a lot of consultations in the run-up to Galway 2020”.
Ms Licken said that this year, for the first time ever, the EU Commission had requested member states of participating capitals of culture to conduct a review immediately after the project ends. The Department’s review of Galway 2020, she said, was nearing completion.
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