Irish Gallery's €124k Scanner Not Used for Seven Years
-
Loading... - Mandy Kappel
- 28 Feb 2025
- 26 Views
- 0 Like
- 0 Comment
A scanner purchased by Ireland's National Gallery for over €100,000 has remained unused for seven years due to concerns about its size and the load-bearing capacity of potential locations. The X-ray system, valued at €124,805 (£103,520), was acquired in November 2017 as part of a Digital Investigative Imaging Project aimed at examining the gallery's paintings in a non-destructive manner.
Despite the initial promise of the scanner, officials have struggled to find a suitable place to install it. The National Gallery has been collaborating with the Office of Public Works to identify an appropriate location, but no solution has been reached thus far. The gallery is now considering using the scanner as a "mobile unit on-site," with hopes that it could be operational later this year.
The situation has drawn significant criticism from government officials. Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheál Martin expressed his frustration, stating it is "very difficult to explain" why the gallery would purchase equipment without having a facility to accommodate it. He emphasized that the gallery must provide an explanation for the oversight.
Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) Simon Harris echoed this sentiment, expressing "absolute fury" over the situation. He highlighted the importance of accountability in public spending, noting that government funds are provided to state agencies that must justify their expenditures.
The incident has contributed to growing public dissatisfaction with perceived wastefulness in government spending. The Irish public is increasingly frustrated with what is seen as a pattern of mismanagement of taxpayer money. This revelation comes amid other recent controversies, including a €7 million (£5.8 million) expenditure by The Arts Council on an unsuccessful IT system and a €1.4 million (£1.2 million) security structure built at the Department of Finance.
Opposition parties are likely to seize on this latest scandal to underscore their concerns about the lack of proper oversight in government spending on public projects. As the National Gallery faces scrutiny, the call for greater accountability in the use of public funds continues to grow.
