In 1996, Irish abstract artist Gerald Davis wrote an article in "The Irish Times", criticising McGonagle's vision for IMMA and calling for more historical and contemporary Irish artists to be represented at the gallery. He noted that "the Irish Museum of Modern largely ignores the contribution made by our own artists of the last 50 years and does not regularly make a cross-section of their work accessible to the public. The current policy of promoting that which is internationally fashionable is, in essence, provincial."