page_title: Declan McGonagle
section_title: NCAD
hierarchical_section_title: Declan McGonagle / Controversy / NCAD
caption_attribution_description: English: Art students protest NCAD director Declan McGonagle
context_page_description: Declan McGonagle is a well-known figure in Irish contemporary art, holding positions as director at the Orchard Gallery in Derry, the first director at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, and as director of the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. He writes, lectures and publishes regularly on art and museum/gallery policy issues, and curates exhibitions.
context_section_description: McGonagle resigned from NCAD in 2015, a year in which "questions about accounting practices, a drastic increase in student numbers, the introduction of student charges, and questionable revenue management" emerged.  
  Early in 2015 "The Comptroller & Auditor General Seamus McCarthy told the Public Accounts Committee that accounting practices in NCAD were "not fit for purpose"", and Labour TD Robert Dowds said it was "one of the most scandalous situations with which the committee has been presented".  There were related student protests and a sit-in in March 2015, followed by a near unanimous SIPTU vote at an Emergency General Meeting on April 15, 2015 of 'no confidence' in the senior management.  
  On 11 September 2015 McGonagle announced his intention to retire as director of the National College of Art and Design at the end of the year citing "personal reasons".
  The same year a nude painting of McGonagle was removed from the college's end of year show, but amongst claims of censorship .
caption: Student protest against McGonagle, March 2015
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