APRIL 1974: An IRA gang, including British heiress Dr Rose Dugdale, stole 19 paintings estimated at the time to be worth in the region of £8 million. Both Sir Alfred and Lady Beit were bound and gagged in the raid.
All the pictures, however, were later found in a cottage in Glandore, Co Cork, and returned to Russborough, House while those responsible for the robbery were caught and jailed.
MAY 1986: A gang of Dublin criminals headed by Martin Cahill, known as the General, stole 18 works, including Vermeer's Lady Writing a Letter, The Portrait of Dona Antonia Zarate by Goya and Gabriel Metsu's Young Man Writing a Letter. All but two paintings, a pair of Venetian scenes by Guardi, have been recovered.
JUNE 2001: Armed criminals who rammed a Volkswagen Golf through the front door of the house, stole Bernardo Bellotto's View of Florence and Gainsborough's Madame Baccelli, which had been taken in the two previous raids. The two paintings, together valued at €3.6 million, were recovered last week and a man has been arrested and is facing charges.