Calls for National Gallery to answer questions on unused artworks scanner which cost €125,000

The National Gallery of Ireland has been urged to address the issues raised. Picture: PA

The National Gallery has been urged to address issues around an artworks scanner bought eight years ago that has not been used.

The Sunday Independent reported that there have been issues finding a location for the €125,000 scanner as it needs a lead-lined room for a radioactive component.

The National Gallery said it purchased an x-ray system valued at €124,805 in November 2017, funded by the Cultural Digitisation Scheme.

It said that some elements of the x-ray system are being stored by the gallery, while the x-ray bulb is still with the supplier.

“X-ray facilities are used by most major galleries and museums and are considered an important tool for collection research and care,” it said.

“The Gallery has been working with the relevant experts and stakeholders to bring the system into operation and has identified a preferred solution.”

Arriving for Cabinet on Tuesday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said it was an “incomprehensible” issue, while Tánaiste Simon Harris said his reaction was “one of absolute fury”.

“It’s very difficult to explain that, why someone would embark upon the purchase of a scanner that they didn’t have a facility to locate it in,” Mr Martin said.

“It’s up to the agency to explain that.”

He praised the National Gallery as “a beautiful building” and a “prized” institution, but said it was “a difficult story to explain”.

He said: “I think it falls on the Gallery itself to explain what happened here and I believe it happened eight years ago so I believe the minister (for arts and culture Patrick O’Donovan) will be bringing something to the Government today on that and I await to hear the details of it.”

Mr Harris echoed calls for the National Gallery to address the issues raised.

“It’s really important for the people who are paid to run these institutions to come out and talk to the Irish people in relation to these issues,” he said.

“Government provides money to state agencies and they do very good work, but they are also accountable for the spend of that money.

“I’m quite sure the people will want to hear from the National Gallery itself. We’ve worked very hard as a Government, as taxpayers, to increase vital funding into areas like the arts.

“But we have now seen three very significant concerns arsing from within one government department – RTÉ, the Arts Council and now the National Gallery, and I think that does raise serious control issues.”

Taoiseach Micheal Martin said it was ‘a difficult story to explain’ (Brian Lawless/PA)

It emerged earlier this month that the Arts Council spent €6.67m on a failed IT project that had been in development since 2019.

It was originally meant to take two-and-a-half years and cost €3m.

The government has previously come under pressure over controversies around public spending, including spiralling costs of the €2.2bn national children’s hospital and the €336,000 bike shed at Leinster House, located on the other side of the fence next to the National Gallery.

In 2023, RTÉ was rocked by a series of controversies around spending and governance at the public service broadcaster, which further fuelled a years-long trend in declining TV licence revenue.

The Government agreed a €725m financing programme for the station over the next three years, until a long-term funding plan is agreed.