LAST UPDATE | 25 Feb 2025

IT IS “INCOMPREHENSIBLE” that the National Gallery of Ireland would continue with plans to purchase an over €120,000 x-ray scanner despite not having the facilities to store the device for over eight years, the Taoiseach has said.

Ministers were briefed at a cabinet meeting this morning, following a report in the Sunday Independent last week, about the scanner that sat idle for eight years after the gallery in Dublin did not have a room to house the machine.

Galleries may purchase x-ray machines to inspect art work in a non-destructive way, a statement from the National Gallery said. The device, costing €124,805, requires a room with lead-lined walls to shield against emitted x-rays when in operation.

A spokesperson confirmed to The Journal that the x-ray bulb, the main component for the use of the scanner, is currently being stored with the supplier.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Department of Culture and Arts told The Journal that the “difficulty” with the x-ray machine was in finding a space in the NGI premises that would be suitable for conversion into an x-ray room.

The Department spokesperson said that in 2021, the Gallery submitted a report to the Department and advised of efforts then underway to resolve the issue. 

“At that time the focus remained on the possibility of finding a room within the premises into which lead lining could be installed,” said the Department spokesperson.

“Following further examination of the issue by the current management team in the NGI, it has more recently been decided to move to using an x-ray cabinet.”

‘The buck stops with you’

The issue was addressed during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil this afternoon.

The purchase has been condemned by TDs across the political spectrum, with members of the opposition calling on government to investigate the latest case where a significant amount of public money has been seemingly wasted.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said: “You can point the finger at anybody and everybody under the sun for the most expensive bike shed, security hut, perimeter wall, but let’s be clear, the buck stops with you.

“With government, you’re in charge, and it’s your responsibility to ensure that public money is spent wisely and properly and, Taoiseach, to take corrective action when it’s not. I think ordinary people see this for what it is.”

Taoiseach Micheál Martin rejected that the accountability for the purchase lay with government, stating that the gallery has to answer for the purchase and explain why it bought the x-ray scanner despite not having the correct resources.

“I think it should be examined fully by the Public Accounts Committee when we have that committee established,” he said in the Dáil. “It simply isn’t good enough, and it’s the gallery has to answer for this, and those responsible have to answer for it.”

He added: “It is incomprehensible that they would have proceeded under a digitization scheme to purchase a scanner and not have organized in advance how that scanner would be deployed, in terms of a lead lined room and so on.”

Speaking before the cabinet meeting earlier, Tánaiste Simon Harris reacted to the details of the purchase with “absolute fury”. He said it is important that those who run the institution come forward to answer questions about the scanner.

“I think my reaction to this is the same as the reaction that every person will have right across this country, which is one of absolute fury,” he told reporters. 

Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon and Labour TD Duncan Smith have both suggested that former arts minister Catherine Martin also come forward to detail her knowledge of the issue.

It is the second issue in recent weeks that arts minister Patrick O’Donovan has had to address following revelations that €6.7m was spent by the Arts Council on an IT system that never launched earlier this month.

Today, O’Donovan announced the terms of a review into the organisational culture and governance of the Arts Council which seek to address the cause of the waste of money, in hopes similar events do not take place again.

The review will probe a number of issues, including procurement, oversight, management, compliance with law, external and internal audits at the Arts Council. A number of recommendations will be made on foot of the review to the Minister.

Niamh Brennan, a professor emeritus at UCD, will chair the committee tasked with the review, which includes John McCarthy, former Secretary General at the Department of Housing and Local Government and Margaret Cullen, Corporate Governance Lecturer and Governance Advisor.