Film Board awarded €45k job to an ex-board member
Rival complains to Department of the Arts that tender was ‘skewed’
A COMPLAINT has been made to the Department of the Arts following the awarding of an Irish Film Board tender to a former member of the board.
Patrick O’Neill worked for the Irish Film Board for seven years before leaving in February 2013. He won the contract last October for his film distribution company,
‘Questionable to select a skimpy tender ’
Wildcard Distribution.
The three-year contract, worth €45,000, was awarded to Wildcard, a firm that O’Neill set up with film production company Fastnet Films last year.
The contract is for sending and promoting short films, designated by the board, to domestic and international film festivals, and digitising these short films to DVD and online formats.
Derry O’Brien of Network Ireland Television, which had undertaken this work for the past nine years, made the complaint to the Department of the Arts.
Mr O’Brien told the Irish Mail on Sunday that he was not happy with the IFB’s decision.
‘I think it’s questionable when a three-man panel with two IFB employees selects a tender by an ex-employee,’ he said.
‘I feel the tender was skewed towards the promotion of the short films through an interactive web- site and usage of social media. This has no bearing on how festival films are selected as I’ve advised the Film Board on more than one occasion,’ said Mr O’Brien.
When the MoS contacted Mr O’Neill this week, he denied any conflict of interest.
‘There was a new IFB board put
‘Submissions reviewed in the normal way’
in place last year with which I have zero relationship,’ he said.
The IFB also says it is satisfied due process was followed.
A spokesman for the board said: ‘The Irish Film Board advertised the tender and received submissions. These were reviewed in the normal way by a three-person committee, which includes an external (non-IFB) reviewer.
‘On foot of the committee’s recommendation, following the proper marking procedure, the tender was awarded to Wildcard Distribution.’
One of the first films Wildcard Distribution distributed after it was set up last year was Life’s A Breeze, produced by Fastnet Films and starring Pat Shortt, Kelly Thornton and Fionnuala Flanagan.
With a production budget of approximately €2m, the film took in just €78,535 in box office sales last year, according to media measurement company Rentrak.
Wildcard also distributed The King Of The Travellers starring Peter Coonan, also of Love/Hate, and The Summit, a documentary about the deadliest day on the world’s most dangerous mountain K2.
The film tells the story of 11 climbers who perished on the mountain including Limerick mountaineer Ger McDonnell who died while trying to assist others.
The Department of the Arts did not comment when contacted by the MoS this week.