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THE STATE HAS conceded that it was not lawful for the National Gallery of Ireland (NGI) to grant export licencees for paintings from the Beit Collection to leave Ireland for the UK.
Nine paintings, which were being kept at Russborough House and include significant works by Rubens and Francesco Guardi, were to be auctioned at Christie’s in London but An Taisce has been attempting to prevent their sale.
Two of the artworks were sold privately but the auction of seven had been postponed. An Taisce says it will now seek to have these paintings returned to Ireland.
In its High Court action, An Taisce had argued that export licences were granted for the paintings by the NGI , rather than the Minister of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
The High Court case has now been settled with Minister Heather Humphreys consenting that the department was wrong to delegate the granting of the export licences to the NGI.
Minister Humphreys says that the delegation of the power to grant licences to the NGI was first carried out thirty years ago in a manner that was not lawful.
“I have taken action to address the legal issues identified in relation to the granting of export licences,” Humphreys said today. “These issues arose because of the manner in which the powers were delegated to the National Gallery some thirty years ago.”
“My department will also continue to consider other wider issues relating to export licences, as part of a review instigated last year,” she added.
An Taisce says today’s court declaration means that the paintings can now not be exported from the UK to outside the EU. They are now calling on Minister Humphreys to seek their return to Ireland.
“It is clear now that the minister should have taken responsibility for the unlawful export of paintings of such cultural significance,” said An Taisce’s Charles Stanley-Smith.
So we are calling for Minister Humphreys to take action to secure their return, and not waited till the 11th hour and a court action to do so. The government have been happy until now to stand on the sidelines and claim it is not their responsibility but as we have seen from the High Court decision today that this simply is not the case, they are the competent authority
In 1976, Sir Alfred and Lady Clementine Beit created the Alfred Beit Foundation to preserve Russborough and its art collection “for the future enjoyment of the Irish people”, according to the house’s website.
The Alfred Beit Foundation owns and operates Russborough House and Demesne in County Wicklow. In 1978, it opened Russborough to the public for guided tours. The cost of maintaining Russborough House has led to difficulties for the foundation and ultimately to the proposed art sale.
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“I’ve got an embarrassment of cancer, the full English. There is barely a morsel of offal not included. I have a trucker’s gut-buster, gimpy, malevolent, meaty malignancy,”. A true master of the English language. Adrian Gill did not hold back in deploying his unique command of words to look death in the eye and find a moment of amusement.
RIP. Filthy awful obscene disease cancer. Seems to me to be coming out of the walls these days is there more and more of it occurring or is it just that more and more of it’s being diagnosed?
sometimes it seems that cancer is winning too many times …
@Suzie Sunshine: seems to me that the basic strategy is to throw bags of poison into you until they either kill all the bad cells or all the good cells. Cancer is strongly associated with inflammation. I wonder would attempting to reduce all sources of inflammation both in diet and the air we breathe and the things we do would be a good thing. And legalise the use of THC derived medicaments. Tetrahydrocannabinol seems to work against cancer by recognising and targeting the cancer cells, causing them to self-destruct, while leaving the good cells unharmed. As some advanced chemos also do. But of course there isn’t huge profits, royalties, shareholder value, in a simple plant that grows in nature.
If I had the Big C I wouldn’t give a toss I’d grow away to my heart’s content what medicine I needed and if the cops came through the door I’d say ”Nothing ye can do to me is as bad as this disease so I’ll pick my battles and fight them as I see fit.”
@John O’Driscoll: If you live long enough… you’ll probably get a cancer. It”s a cell mutation.
We just live longer. Other stuff doesn’t get us as much. We survive or prevent heart disease more. Less industrial accidents.
Something has to get you in the end.
Great statement.
@John O’Driscoll: You are probably right, over the past decade since CT scans are now available in our hospitals. Doctors can now recognise parts of the body affected by cancer. The doctors probably told him that his days were numbered if the disease had spread into other parts of the body other than his neck which sounds like a swollen lymphoma indicating problems with his immune system. Pity it hadn’t have been recognised sooner then it could probably have been treated.
To make things worse, too much exposure to CT scans can also bring cancers caused by radiation exposure in later life. I myself had 4 CT scans this year and the radiologist wouldn’t perform anymore telling me a person shouldn’t really have more than 4 or 5 in a lifetime……
@Darragh O Meara: Man you must be glowing, keep away from kids and pregnant women
“If you live long enough” …….?
Thanks for all replies that were informative.
An excellent writer and his exchanges with J. Clarkson were very amusing.
His book ‘AA Gill is away’ is well worth a read. He was a great travel writer too.
Sad news indeed.
I was with my wife and a group of friends on a barge on the Canal du Midi a few years ago. AA Gill was with Jeremy Clarkson and we kept encountering them at stops along the way.
AA Gill was thoroughly enjoying himself, embracing life with zest and an open generous spirit. He smoothed over a few incidents when Clarkson was getting a little stroppy. AA Gill was surprisingly open and full of joy. He treated all people he met with humour, civility and genuine interest.
What distinguished him was that he treated all that he met with a wonderful accepting respect. He treated all staff with the proper respect and put inexperience people at their ease. Because AA Gill could be acerbic and given to quite a lot of asperity in his writing, it surprised me how equanimious and affable he was.
I suspect that he lived far more years in life’s riches and variety than many who have lived much longer lives. He was no “little Englander”, he had an immense curiosity and showed no signs of judgmentalism.
Very interesting post Michael, it’s easy to assume that writers write as a reflection of themselves, but it is not often the case same as comedians aren’t always humourous in their personal and private life. I always enjoyed reading AA Gills critiques and articles and will most certainly miss them. His command of the English language was brilliant and what is more amazing is he overcame severe dyslexia to become a fantastic journalist and writer. I for one will miss his acerbic wit. RIP.
Micheal OLainn.Superb tribute man.
Great piece by AA Gill here.
‘Life at 60′
“I was born in 1954 in Edinburgh. Winston Churchill was prime minister, there was still rationing, we were the first generation that would grow up with television, pop music, central heating and a National Health Service. As a child, every old man I knew had fought in the First World War and every young man in the second.
War still hung like the smell of a damp, grim nostalgia over everything. We played Spitfires and Messerschmitts in the playground and you could, as Kingsley Amis pointed out, walk into any pub in the country and ask with perfect confidence if the major had been in. London was still moth-eaten with bomb sites and black with coal smoke. One of my earliest memories is of the last pea souper fog”
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/newsreview/features/article1427723.ece?shareToken=2fca8e9e52d777d7c93e9583efcc3bf2
@Alex Falcone: I remember it well, fish n chips in the sunday newspaper and Saturday kids cinema to watch Roy Rodgers and Trigger the horse.
Michael Winner & now AA Gill both gave brilliant Restaurant reviews etc ! Sadly missed !!
Ok 2016 you can stop now.
I remember best as the tv critic, was always a good laugh on a sunday morning
Oh. That’s an awful loss for his family and friends and to journalism. I loved his writing in the Sunday Times.
He’ll be missed.
RIP.
Jaysus Alan Cooke, does it matter that much to you?
Undoubtedly one of my most favorite writers and wits. I read his columns first thing every Sunday, devoured his restaurant reviews, bowed to his tv critique. There aren’t a lot of A.A. Gills in the world, his writing always enlivened me and made me smile. Bless him and his family.
For those who have yet to read his recent memoir “Pour Me : A Life, I can’t recommend it enough.
Michael O Lainn, what a nice tribute, may he rest in peace.
Holy Shit. I didn’t always agree with his verbose, seemingly pretentious articles but I always read them regardless. One of his last restaurant reviews was of the Magpie Cafe in Whitby which he gave five stars all round and personally having had a fish n chip there myself I can but only agree and commend the man for keeping it real to end. RIP
Dreadful loss to all his fans.
Can’t understand all the thumbs down to genuine options.
AA terrible loss
Hardly the point.
Sunday Times will never be quite the same.
Sadly not PJ!
He changed my life. R.I.P Mr Gill
There’s one in every box
Rick Grimes anyone?
F#ck off
Isn’t that the man who shot a baboon just to see what it felt like?
I stand corrected. He shot it to see what it might feel like to kill a human being. https://www.google.ie/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2009/oct/26/aa-gill-shot-baboon
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