Serious concerns have been raised over the development of an art house cinema in Co Galway.

A completion date for the building, which is estimated to cost around €9 million, is yet to be confirmed.

Sinn Féin spokesperson on the arts, Peadar Tóibín TD, said the Prime Time Investigates exposé on the project were "shocking".

He said: "The Department of Arts said it never carried out internal audits into the millions of euros worth of funding it provided. The Film Board claimed that it was reliant on the Department to provide oversight.

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"This means that millions of euro of taxpayers money was being spent with no-one monitoring the spending. It beggars belief that the Department could allow a situation where such lack of oversight could exist. This is particularly galling given the constant appeals for funding to finance the project which the Department continually consented to.

"Further notes of concern were that Solas, the company overseeing the project were in breach of the Charities Act. It also transpires that there was no public tender with which to select an operator of the cinema.

"While I do not wish to undermine the merit of the project itself, we're not satisfied with response from the Minister as regards how well protected the investment of the state is and who will retain control of the site."

(CD/MH)