The National Gallery is weighing the installation of a mobile X-ray unit, eight years after acquiring an unused machine costing €124,805. This consideration follows scrutiny over public spending, highlighted by recent arts funding mismanagement. The X-ray machine, intended for non-damaging artwork examination, has remained idle due to the absence of a suitable lead-lined room essential for its radioactive component. With an operational plan for later this year, recent revelations of spending inefficiencies by public bodies, including a failed €7m IT system by the Arts Council, are expected to prompt further discussion in Cabinet.
Further questions will be prompted about spending practices by public bodies after it emerged in recent weeks the Arts Council spent €7m on a failed IT system.
Because the machine contains a radioactive component, it must be stored in a lead-lined room which absorbs the radiation.
The Office of Public Works (OPW), which was embroiled in a spending scandal when a bike shed at Leinster House cost €336,000, has been helping the gallery find where to locate the X-ray since 2018.
Officials now expect the X-ray machine to be operational sometime later this year.
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