Letter of the Day

‘Perhaps someone from the Minister’s office might pick up the phone to the National Gallery?'

X-ray scanner at centre of controversy is piece of equipment that an ambitious art gallery should have

Letter of the Day
Letter of the Day
Fri Feb 28 2025 - 06:00

Sir, – Patrick O’Donovan tells us that the as-yet-unused scanner in the National Gallery has caused “huge embarrassment” to his department (“Minister admits ‘embarrassment’ over scanner”, Home News, February 26th). An Taoiseach describes the purchase of the scanner as “incomprehensible”.

I wondered about that, too, considering my own home scanner, which cost €150, does everything I need it to.

Then I read Conor Pope’s very comprehensible explanation of what the incomprehensibly embarrassing scanner actually does (“Q&A: Painting a complete picture”, Home News, February 27th) and I thought this was a piece of equipment that an ambitious art gallery, which aspired to be “a resource on art for the whole world”, absolutely ought to have.

Lumping this story in with the failed Arts Council computer project and the pay issues at RTÉ completely lacks proportion.

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Perhaps someone from the Minister’s office might pick up the phone to the National Gallery and ask them what they need to get the scanner up and running? The solution might be as simple as that. – Yours, etc,

JOHN BEAN,

Maynooth,

Co Kildare