National Gallery has never used €120,000 scanner eight years after buying it

Eva Osborne

Tánaiste Simon Harris has said the discovery that a scanner bought for over €120,000 for the National Gallery has never been used raises "serious control issues".

The scanner, which has been lying idle since it was purchased in 2017, is the latest spending controversy to arise within State-funded organisations.

There still has not been a suitable lead-lined room found for the special X-ray machine eight years on.

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 Tanaiste 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 able 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.”

It emerged earlier this month that the Arts Council spent €6.67 million 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 three million euro.

The government has previously come under pressure over controversies around public spending, including spiralling costs of the €2.2 billion 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 €725 million financing programme for the station over the next three years, until a long-term funding plan is agreed. – Additional reporting: PA