Compiled by the consultants Crowe Ireland, the independent report examines the circumstances around the departure of Neil Murray and Graham McLaren as joint directors in 2021 which involved the theatre spending about €1m, mostly in legal and consultancy fees.
In a recent post on X, the social-media platform, the former co-directors claimed that as well as redundancy payments, the Abbey board made a settlement of €110,000 to Mr McLaren in compensation for the “distress and suffering he endured as a result of an erroneous and protracted two-year HR process”.
The Arts Council, which is giving an €8m grant to the Abbey this year, told the theatre in 2022 that the delivery of a report on governance was a condition of future funding.
Crowe Ireland was appointed in December 2022, and it is understood that the consultancy delivered its findings about a year later. However the Abbey Theatre only delivered the report to the Arts Council on July 15.
A spokeswoman for the Arts Council said it looked forward to examining the Crowe report. “It has been produced as a condition of funding and it is now a matter of the board of the Arts Council to consider this report in that context,” she added.
“The next board meeting will take place in late August and this will be on the agenda.”
By then, however, the term of office of the current chairwoman of the Abbey will have expired. Frances Ruane, who is also chair of the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council, ends her two-year stint on Sunday.
Dr Ruane was given an extension as Abbey chair in July 2022, after her initial five-year term came to an end. The ministerial decision to extend her term has been criticised by Mr McLaren and Mr Murray, who say they made a protected disclosure about the “use of public funds” to Media Minister Catherine Martin in June 2022, a year after they left the Abbey.
“The Minister’s response was to decline to pursue any investigation, but to reappoint Dr Ruane as chair of the Abbey and to rely on the outcome of the [Crowe] report which, we understand, was completed and submitted to the Abbey Theatre over six months ago, in December 2023,” they said in their recent post on X.
A spokesman for the Department of Culture and Media said: “Primary governance responsibility for the Abbey Theatre resides in the first instance with the Arts Council as principal funder. Protected disclosures received by the Department are processed in accordance with the relevant legislation.
“In accordance with confidentiality requirements, the Department makes no comment in response to queries regarding such disclosures.
“Minister Catherine Martin reappointed Dr. Frances Ruane as chair of the board of the Abbey Theatre on 29 July 2022 for a further two years. Dr. Ruane’s tenure as chair expires shortly and the process to select her replacement is underway at present. The Crowe report was commissioned by the Abbey Theatre as a condition of its Arts Council funding and publication is a matter for the Abbey Theatre.”
