Declaration of Interest- Conflict at the Arts Council of Northern Ireland

national | arts and media | opinion/analysis Tuesday September 22, 2009 13:42 by mhawk

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland are very keen to ensure that none of their clients are involved in conflict of interest situations. Indeed they have stated that even the appearance of a theoretical conflict of interest must be avoided at all costs, and transparency ensured through thorough external auditing.

Declaration of Interest- Conflict at the Arts Council of Northern Ireland

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland are very keen to ensure that none of their clients are involved in conflict of interest situations. Indeed they have stated that even the appearance of a theoretical conflict of interest must be avoided at all costs, and transparency ensured through thorough external auditing.

One would imagine then that an executive of a public body, holding specific executive powers over arts funding would be keenly aware of this need. Such an executive would never, then, allow hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money to be granted over a period of years to a private company owned by a family member and registered at their own family home. It would be unthinkable, surely.

Sadly, this seems to be the case with ACNI’s own Director of Arts Development, Noirín McKinney, who is married to Chris Agee, editor of the Irish Pages, a bi-annual literary journal which has enjoyed substantial funding from ACNI for several years. Currently, they receive £ 30,000 a year from ASOP funding directly from the Arts Council. Irish Pages Ltd. (Company no: NI046919 ) does not seem to be a charity or NPO, as three directors would have to be registered at Companies House to ensure board oversight, and this is not the case. It seems to be privately owned by two directors, Chris Agee, and his Irish Language editor, a non-UK resident.

A perusal of their last registered accounts at Companies House shows only a half page profit/loss statement, with no information or even totals on income or expenditure or director’s benefits, with a declaration from their accountant that he has provided no independent invigilation of the accounts, and is working from totals provided by the company. While this minimalist accounting statement may be legal, it is hardly providing transparency in a body in receipt of regular public funding. Most bodies in receipt of ACNI funding provide full detail of all income and expenditure, properly invigilated by an accountant, in their registered accounts. Those which are charities certainly do. A company registered to the husband of an executive in charge of public funds, registered at her home address and in receipt of those funds should be expected to follow best practice in their sector. There does seem to be a lack of transparency in this case.

Ms. McKinney has, of course, placed Irish Pages on her register of interests, and leaves the room whenever their applications are discussed at council. However, recommendations made by staff whose direct line manager she is are hardly going to be completely impartial and, as Director Roisín MacDonough has ceded executive control in these funding areas to Ms. McKinney, her personal control of public funds here is considerable. One would have thought that a Declaration of Interest in this case would exist to ensure there was no personal benefit to Ms. McKinney from monies paid to her husband’s company, or, indeed, on profits made substantially from this investment. This would be hard to prove in the case of a company registered at her home address. For example, is part of her household expenses offset against the use of her house as a registered office? Does her household income include monies granted by ACNI?

Alternatively, does the Irish Pages directly benefit from its connection with ACNI’s Director of Arts Development in any way?

There seems to be no way of finding answers to these questions. If ACNI are carefully invigilating in this area, they are doing so behind closed doors. However, ACNI’s record on self-invigilation has raised questions before. Remember all those works of art placed in their collection which were given away to private individuals as gifts, even though they were publicly owned. ACNI apologised, then claimed it had no record of who had received those gifts, so none were ever recovered.

The Irish Pages situation has been a cause of consternation among those in the literary sector who know of the situation for some time now. The trouble is, everyone who is concerned is dependant on the good will of Noirín McKinney and ACNI, and do not feel able to voice their opinion publicly. ACNI funding is given out in grants, with no legal entitlement, which has allowed an almost feudal system of patronage and personal preference to grow. The arts world has watched in dismay as perfectly professional arts charities which provide measurable and substantial public benefit have seen their funding cut, while “pet projects” of interest to a tiny minority have been favoured in recent years. This situation has been exacerbated the forthcoming RPA, when most public funding bodies expect a large cut in their budgets.

It is time that ACNI practised what it preaches. It is time that this particular Declaration of Interest is properly investigated by an external body, or held up to public scrutiny by the media in the interest of fairness and best practice.

Perhaps proper invigilation is in place, but it must be seen to be in place, and this is clearly not the case in this instance.