Minister for the Arts Patrick O’Donovan has said the National Gallery’s purchase of an unused scanner costing almost €125,000 is among issues that have caused “huge embarrassment” to his department in recent times.
The X-ray scanner, purchased by the gallery eight years ago, has never been used because a suitable room for it has not been found.
Mr O’Donovan updated the Cabinet on the issue on Tuesday when he briefed colleagues on the annual report of the National Gallery.
Three organisations under the remit of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media have been at the centre of controversy in recent times.
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There was the long-running storm over pay for senior figures at RTÉ and issues such as corporate hospitality which has prompted a series of reforms at the broadcaster.
In recent weeks, it emerged that a failed Arts Council computer project led to the loss of at least €5.3 million.
Speaking to reporters, Mr O’Donovan said that cumulatively, along with the issue of the X-ray scanner, “they’re a source of huge embarrassment to the Department.”
The gallery’s X-ray machine requires a room with lead-lining and there has been concern over the load-bearing capacity of rooms at the National Gallery.
Mr O’Donovan – who was appointed as Minister for Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport last month – said he met representatives of the National Gallery last week.
“They assured me that they are in a position to put the machine into operation as soon as possible.”
He pushed back against critics in Opposition parties, who claimed the Government is to blame, saying: “it’s a bit early to be pointing fingers”.
He said it is “the cause of great dissatisfaction to me” that a Government grant was provided for the equipment “in good faith” and the machine “hasn’t been switched on”.
In the Dáil, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald raised the issue of the scanner and claimed a Government culture of “waste and incompetence is deep-rooted and has been going on for a very long time”.
Ms McDonald said the “list of scandalous Government waste of public money is as long as your arm” but “not a single person has been held to account.”
Ms McDonald compared the purchase by the National Gallery of an X-ray scanning system to the procurement in 2018 of an Oireachtas printer for €800,000 that lay idle for 10 months because it could not fit into the building. A further €200,000 was spent on it to get it to fit.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin responded saying that “politicians in this House cannot be responsible” for the action of individual agencies or arts bodies.
“We create boards, that are established by legislation. There is responsibility here for those who decide on those things.”
He said “the gallery has to answer for it, and those responsible have to answer”.
Describing the purchase of the scanner as “incomprehensible”, Mr Martin said it was up to the National Gallery to explain what had happened and people needed to be “accountable for what transpired”.
Meanwhile, Mr O’Donovan separately announced the appointment of the three-person board to examine spending and corporate governance at the Arts Council in the wake of its unsuccessful IT project.
The group will be chaired by Prof Niamh Brennan and its other members will be corporate governance expert Margaret Cullen and former senior civil servant John McCarthy.
In a statement, Mr O’Donovan said: “I wish to restore trust and confidence in the Arts Council.”
Earlier, Opposition parties called for former minister for arts Catherine Martin to come before an Oireachtas committee to answer questions in relation to spending at the National Gallery of Ireland and the Arts Council.
