Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

What is notable about this issue is the outcry from every member of the arts and heritage community in Ireland and the general public. I could list the various organisations but my colleague, Senator Marie-Louise O’Donnell, has already done that. This is an irredeemable loss of Ireland’s culture and a betrayal of the legacy of Sir Alfred and Lady Beit. As we speak An Taisce and others are meeting in Tailor’s Hall to discuss alternative ways to fund Russborough House. There are several issues to be discussed. The more immediate and pressing one is how to stop or suspend the sale of the paintings on 9 July. On Tuesday An Taisce applied to the High Court and was granted leave to take judicial review of the granting of the export licence to the Beit paintings. An Taisce’s case is that the export licence was granted for these paintings by the National Gallery of Ireland rather than by the Minister, who is in charge of granting licences for the export of paintings under the Documents and Pictures (Regulation of Export) Act 1945. I have been informed by An Taisce that despite repeated correspondence with the Department, the National Gallery of Ireland, and the Alfred Beit Foundation and Christie's of London, it has not to date received any indication that the powers to grant export licences have lawfully been delegated to the National Gallery of Ireland.

Why has the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht failed to engage with An Taisce on this issue? Given that the 1945 Act contains no power of delegation, which would allow the Minister to delegate the power to a third party, why was the National Gallery of Ireland granted an export licence to send these paintings abroad? On the face of it any unauthorised act of delegation is ultra viresin terms of the 1945 Act, an expressed legislative intent of the Oireachtas. I concur with An Taisce that the export licences issued by the National Gallery are not lawful and should be quashed. I call on the Minister to brief lawyers in the United Kingdom today to seek an injunction to stop the sale of these paintings on 9 July.

While the immediate issue is to stop the sale of the paintings, a broader but equally significant issue is the circumstances that have led to the trustees of the Alfred Beit Foundation offering for sale the very artefacts they were entrusted to protect. The trustees of the foundation should be asked to account for themselves and ensure that a more strategic approach be taken in future, which does not involve the sale of precious assets. The sale of assets in the proposed way is very much a smash-and-grab approach and even if it does go ahead it does not offer a sustainable solution to the long-term maintenance of the Beits’ Russborough legacy. If allowed to continue it will lead to the diminishment of the collection which, apart from the huge loss to the culture and heritage of Ireland, would surely discourage any future philanthropist from leaving collections in trust to the people of Ireland. I fully concur with the excellent suggestion made by An Taisce and others that new and more imaginative, workable partnership models be established for the appropriate long-term maintenance and management of Russborough House. Given that the proposed sale has highlighted the inadequacy of the current regulatory and legislative framework governing the sale overseas of Ireland’s culture, an urgent updating of Irish export law on cultural heritage to the best European standards is required. An Taisce reminds us that there are existing unused provisions of the National Cultural Institutions Act 1997 with regard to scheduling items in collections for export control which could be implemented. I ask the Minister to consider this in her review of the current situation.

In 1976 when Sir Alfred Beit transferred the entire Russborough estate to the Alfred Beit Foundation as a charitable and educational trust it was for the sole purpose of keeping the house and art collection intact, making it a centre for the arts and open to the public. That this extraordinarily generous outstanding bequest to the Irish people from one who owed absolutely nothing to this country is now under threat is a travesty. As a nation we have failed to live up to the Beits’ expectation.Not only has Russborough not become the centre for the arts, as the Beits envisaged, but now we are failing Alfred Beit's one request which was to keep the collection intact. It is only ten years since the passing of Lady Beit and many have commented that she and her husband must be turning in their graves over this.

While the situation is extremely serious, we are also provided with an exceptional opportunity to put things right.