National Gallery ‘very sorry' €125,000 X-ray device is still not in use eight years after it was bought
The gallery said 'weaknesses' in its project management practices had led to the device, bought in 2017 for the non-invasive analysis of artwork, going unused.
The machine has been lying idle because a lead-lined room suitable to accommodate it has not been found.
The gallery is now looking at putting the device into a lead-lined cabinet and is hoping it will be up and running by the end of the year 'at no additional expense to the Exchequer', gallery director Dr Caroline Campbell will tell the Dáil's public spending watchdog.
'The gallery is very sorry for the length of time that it has taken to get the X-ray system up and running.
'The X-ray system is an important piece of equipment which will be used and provide value for many years to come,' the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will be told today.
It was the gallery's project management 'weaknesses' that were 'significantly' to blame for the machine still not being operational, TDs will be told.
The pandemic and changes in staff are also among the reasons to be listed.
'Pressures on the use of our building, unanticipated operational issues following the reopening of the gallery's historic wings in 2017, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and changes of key senior personnel during this period have also been contributing factors,' she will tell the committee.
However, the gallery has now made changes to prevent something like this happening again, TDs will hear.
A tender has been awarded to build a lead-lined cabinet that can store the machine.
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'Manufacture of the X-ray cabinet will commence shortly, with the expected delivery, installation and operation of the X-ray system, before the end of 2025.
'All costs associated with the resolution of the issue will be borne from the resources generated by the gallery and not from the Exchequer.'
Representatives from the gallery will appear at the PAC to answer questions about the machine alongside staffers from the Arts Council, which faced controversy earlier this year for a failed €6.7m IT project.
'This project was not and is not an optional extra. It began out of necessity, and it is a necessity that remains to be addressed,' council chair Maura McGrath will tell the committee.
Ms McGrath will defend the council's role in the failed IT project, saying there were questions over whether small and specialised state bodies should be expected to 'carry the load on complex IT projects'.
The current IT system is from 2008, is not integrated and is difficult to use, director Maureen Kennelly will tell TDs.
'Everything on this project was procured under public procurement guidelines,' she will say.
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