The Alfred Beit foundation is an independent trust and cannot be instructed on how to do its business, Minister for Arts and Heritage Heather Humphreys has told the Seanad.
She was addressing the House on Thursday on the sale of paintings from the Beit collection.
Ms Humphreys said the foundation’s trustees had said the paintings had been in storage and not on public view for almost 20 years.
“The memorandum and articles of association of the Alfred Beit foundation also make it clear that the trust is perfectly entitled to sell the assets of the foundation,’’ she added.
She said her department did not have the discretionary funds necessary, believed to be in the order of 12 million euro, to buy the paintings.
“I will continue to see if any other possible options can be explored, but this, however, will be difficult given that the fact that the sale is to proceed next month,’’ Ms Humphreys added.
Vote defeat
Earlier, the Government, which is in a minority position in the Seanad, lost a vote on a demand that the Minister should address the House on the sale.
The proposal was carried by 18 votes to 17.
Ms Humphreys told the Dáil on Thursday morning the sale was a matter for the committee of management of the Alfred Beit Foundation which owned and operated Russborough House.
“My department has no function in the administration or sale of these art works,’’ she added.
She said she had met on Tuesday night with the foundation’s chairperson and had asked if it would be possible to delay the sale or consider withdrawing the paintings from auction to provide some time in which to explore all other possible options that would involve her department and the Office of Public Works.
“The trustees declined to either delay or cancel the sale, citing the fact that they would incur a liability of £1.4 million (€1.95 million) for breaking an agreement with the auction house handling the sale, with which they entered a contract several months ago,’’ Ms Humphreys added.
Government approached
The foundation on Wednesday said it approached the Government twice in 2013 seeking support and highlighting the need to sell some Beit collection paintings if assistance was not provided.
“The possibility of the State acquiring some of the ABF paintings was discussed, as well as mechanisms to enable donors to acquire the assets. Other suggestions as to how the State could support Russborough were considered,” it said in a statement.
Two paintings by 19th-century English artist John Atkinson Grimshaw were sold by Christie’s for a combined total of £112,500 (approximately €156,000) on Tuesday, while the others including works by Rubens are to be sold in July.
