Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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421. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the date his Department was first made aware of the National Gallery of Ireland’s plans to purchase an x-ray scanner in 2017; if his Department provided sign-off for the expenditure or oversight for the project; if the then-Minister was aware; if she provided sign-off; when the Department and the Minister were first made aware of the inability to house the scanner; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9356/25]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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In 2017 my Department operated a Digitisation Scheme for National Cultural Institutions (NCIs). and other collections of national significance. This provided funding for 14 projects across 7 NCIs and 3 other cultural organisations. The National Gallery of Ireland put forward 3 proposals including one that included the purchase of digital x-ray equipment. Approval to provide funding for these projects was provided by the then Minister in the Autumn of 2017.

On foot of the Ministerial approval, a Service Level Agreement was signed between the Department and the National Gallery in December 2017. This set out a range of governance and financial oversight measures. In this context, there was consistent communication between my Department and the National Gallery over the course of its implementation of Scheme between 2017 and 2021.

In November 2021, the Gallery submitted a Digitisation Funding Scheme Progress Report to my Department. While detail was included on the difficulties experienced by the Gallery in establishing the final location of the x-ray room it also noted that the funding scheme had provided the National Gallery with an essential upgrade to its professional imaging systems.

The fact that the x-ray was still not operational became known to me in recent weeks after the National Gallery submitted its 2023 Annual Report to my Department.

My Department have engaged with the NGI and they have outlined their plans to bring the equipment into full operational use later this year. The Department will be monitoring the progress of the NGI in this regard.