Abbey tenders for independent review of ‘policies’ after duo’s €700k exit
AN independent review is to be conducted into the Abbey Theatre following controversy around overpayments made to its former directors.
The theatre has issued a tender for a consultancy firm to do the review into the ‘governance and policies of the Abbey Theatre’.
The review was a condition of Arts Council funding being provided to the theatre following a report into its financial controls and governance last year.
The report was conducted by professional services firm Mazars, after the Arts Council learned of a number of controversial payments totalling €700,000 to the theatre’s former chief executives and co-directors Graham McLaren and Neil Murray.
The review will examine internal policies and procedures related to governance, internal controls – HR, legal, financial – as well as stakeholder management at the theatre, the tender request states. It will also make recommendations on the governance structures at the Abbey.
Any person or company interested in tendering for the contract has until October 10 to submit their bid. The review is expected to be completed by January 31 next year.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for the Abbey Theatre said: ‘As an organisation that receives significant public funding, the Abbey Theatre strives to continuously improve its governance structure and related policies and procedures.
‘While details of any reviews conducted remain confidential due to commercial sensitivity, any relevant recommendations and learnings relating to a review process are always welcomed by the board and executive of the Abbey Theatre.’
The theatre is expected to receive €7.5million in funding this year from the Arts Council, but with various conditions attached – which are believed to include monitoring and reporting on board appointments.
The Abbey – which was founded in 1904 – is now led by new artistic director Caitríona McLaughlin and executive director Mark O’Brien.
In 2021, Mazars was asked to review the finance and governance of our national theatre following media reports over the departures of Mr McLaren and Mr Murray. The pair left their roles in July.
Settlements to the former directors totalled €700,000, according to some reports, which included the cost of legal fees, exit payments and settlements to Mr McLaren over the mishandling of a human resources process in which he was involved.
This equates to nearly 10% of the €7.5million in annual funding the theatre is set to receive this year.
The Arts Council is still refusing to publish the report into the Abbey despite receiving it in March.
At the time of the report, the Abbey Theatre did not confirm the cost of the payouts, saying it does not comment on the contractual terms of its current or former employees.
In the Abbey’s end-of-year financial statement for 2020 – the last full year of Mr McLaren and Mr Murray’s tenure – it was revealed their joint remunerations were just over €206,000, with more than €16,500 in contributions made to their pensions.
Under ‘termination amounts payable’ there was also a figure of €165,256 in addition to €11,000 in ‘legal
‘Strives to improve its procedures’
Revenues fell short of pre-Covid figures
costs’. These are the only publicly available figures from the period.
In 2021, revenues at the Abbey Theatre increased by 29% from 2020 to €573,848, but still fell far short of preCovid figures. In 2019, it brought in revenues of €2.5million.
A total of 18,066 people attended the theatre last year, compared to the 116,494 recorded in 2019.
Last year, there were ten stage productions hosted in the Abbey, and four live productions outside of the theatre.