A combination of achievement and sadness accompanies every retirement, but as Jack Gilligan prepares to step down as Arts Officer of Dublin City Council there is an attendant anxiety over the matter of his replacement. Currently there are no plans to appoint a successor. All new appointments are embargoed while the Government attempts to weather these straitened economic times. A spokesperson told ITM that “the Council is examining its options for filling the post in the context of the current difficult budget situation.”
Gilligan, who held the position since 1993 and worked for Dublin County Council and Dun Laoghaire Borough Corporation for many years previously, saw the Arts Office develop from a one-person operation to an office with various constituency-specific arts officers. It had an annual budget to support artists and the arts in excess of €600,000.
Fears that the council’s commitment to funding the arts in Dublin may buckle in Gilligan’s absence may be overplayed, with his responsibilities likely to be absorbed by five other officers. The issue has not escaped the attentions of the Dublin Central Arts Workers Group, who brought their concerns to the Lord Mayor. “Otherwise we're the only capital city in the EU without a serious arts officer,” Gavin Kostick says, “which would be bad for the city.”
Gilligan had been instrumental to the founding and running of the Dublin Writer’s Festival, programmed by Liam Browne, and the spokesperson believed that this legacy would continue: “It is the Council's intention to continue to promote the Dublin Writers Festival.”
Gilligan was unavailable for interview at the time of writing while on annual leave. He retires on October 16th.