Mr Charles Haughey, patron of the arts, was invited to chair the National Gallery's private fund-raising foundation on its establishment in 1995.
The National Gallery Foundation of Ireland was set up to raise £3 million to supplement the £7.5 million grant from the European Regional Development Fund towards the planned 40,000 sq ft extension to the gallery in Clare Street.
The State subsequently gave £2 million to the project. But, with a year lost on planning complications, including An Bord Pleanala's rejection of the original application last January, it is now estimated the revised Clare Street extension will cost at least £15.5 million.
A total of £6 million needs to be collected by the foundation from private donors to enable the board of governors of the National Gallery to approve the signing of the contract for the building of the extension next January. The board will meet on Friday, December 4th, to send the project, which is to be managed by the Office of Public Works, out to tender.
For these reasons, the foundation's fund-raising activities now assume central relevance. The board has to know it has the full £15.5 million in its possession before the extension contract can be signed.
The secrecy surrounding the foundation's fund-raising activities has precipitated a crisis on the Board of Governors and Guardians of the National Gallery of Ireland.
The lack of accountability to the board about the sources of the private funding for such an august institution, coupled with the contracts entered into with the donors, form the basis of the simmering board row.
At least two board members - the chairman of the Commissioners of Public Works, Mr Barry Murphy, and the director of the Hunt Museum in Limerick, Mr Ciaran MacGonigal - are reviewing their positions because of the refusal of the chairwoman of the board, Mrs Carmel Naughton, to provide them with full information about the private funding for the extension. Sources have told The Irish Times that resignations cannot be ruled out.
Three members of the board of governors have been raising worries about the lack of information concerning the operations of the fund-raising foundation for well over a year.
They first sought such information about the accounts in April, 1997. The McCracken tribunal was then coming to a crunch.
In making his inquiries, Mr Murphy has insisted he was the accounting officer for the Office of Public Works and, as such, is obliged to keep his Minister informed about all the gallery's activities. Sources say he has strongly asserted that the National Gallery, established under 19th-century legislation, is the equivalent of a semi-state body. There could not be secret donors to a public body funded through the Book of Estimates and public trust funds, he has argued.
Mr MacGonigal has contended that the National Gallery is owned by the people and administered on their behalf by board members. It was not a private club owned by the few. In this tribunal-led time, it was all the more necessary to have board meetings protected by the fullest information, he has maintained.
Prof Michael Herity, president of the Royal Irish Academy, has made the case for fuller information on all aspects of the gallery's accounts to allow for informed decisions.
The board chairwoman, Mrs Naughton, told The Irish Times Mr Haughey's appointment as head of the fund-raising foundation was "cleared with all of the political parties" before he was offered the post. He came in to raise £3 million, she said, but raised £5 million. A further £1 million has to be raised now, she says.
Asked if members of the board of governors had sought information and raised questions about the accounts of the fund-raising foundation, Mrs Naughton replied that no board member had done so at the board.
Asked if it was not reasonable for board members to ask for information about the fund-raising activities of a national institution in the climate of the McCracken and Moriarty tribunals, Mrs Naughton said: "I am saying that they didn't."
The gallery had private sponsors to the tune of £5 million, she told The Irish Times when first contacted last weekend. "We can't release these names. We will release them in good time."
She said: "Ireland is a very leaky country. I could not afford to have the names out in public. Obviously if you have heard that three members of the board have asked for information - any member who requested it got it privately; not at a board meeting. They have been told the amounts, how we are doing. All are aware that we have the bones of £1 million to raise. We are at a tentative stage with our donors. These people all promised me personally the money."
Responding to further questions, she said they had two accounts, in AIB and the Bank of Ireland. Asked if they had an offshore account, Mrs Naughton said they had an account in England for donors based there. They were allowed to set up an account to allow these donors to get charitable status.
The trustees of the accounts were Lord Gowrie, Lady Beit, Sir Denis Mahon, Dublin solicitor Mr Gerry Sheedy and Mr Bill Finlay.
Asked to confirm that £5 million was in the accounts, Mrs Naughton said they had some of the money from a small number of donors. They had contracts for the rest of the money with "one or two outstanding, not signed and returned to us". They had looked for letters from the donors pledging the money during the planning delay.
She had given that information to the board, she stated. There was a board member who wanted to be told the names but they were confidential.
The work done by Mr Haughey was "absolutely exemplary for the National Gallery".
Mr Haughey wrote a letter to all members of the National Gallery Foundation earlier this year saying that now that the targets had been reached, he was returning his remit.
The foundation's fund-raising activities were in limbo for some time subsequently because of the difficulty about planning permission for the extension. Mrs Naughton presided over their meeting in October.
On the invitation of Mrs Naughton and the gallery director, Mr Raymond Keaveney, Mr Peter Barry, a former Fine Gael minister, assumed the role of chairman of the National Gallery Foundation last month.