The Government has denied that the investigation into claims some of the Hunt collection in Limerick may have been looted by Nazis has been "consigned to oblivion".
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Paris claimed in a letter to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, that the lack of progress in the investigation into the claims meant Ireland had "permitted a scandalous cover-up" over the affair. However, the Government last night insisted that it had not allowed the matter to lapse.
A spokesman for the Minister for Arts, Mr O'Donoghue, said he was considering proposals "that were made to him by a third party" on the methodology and the resourcing of the investigation.
"This proposal is being considered, and will be decided on in a matter of weeks," he said.
A spokesman for Mr Ahern declined to comment besides saying: "The Taoiseach asked the Minister for Arts to deal with this, and he is dealing with it."
The Wiesenthal Centre's director for international liaison, Dr Shimon Samuels, said in a statement that he had pointed out to Mr Ahern that the commission set up to examine the claims had not yet published its terms of reference.
While a former Supreme Court judge, Mr Justice Donal Barrington, has agreed to chair the three-person commission, no detailed work has been carried out because the question of who will fund the work has yet to be resolved.
Mr Barrington and his team did not want the museum to fund the investigation because he wanted to be seen to be independent. Mr O'Donoghue did not want to commit State funding because he wanted the work to be carried out "at arms length" from the Government.
Dr Samuels has so far refused to disclose any of the information which he claims links the couple who amassed the museum collection, the late Mr John Hunt and his late wife, Gertrude, with "notorious" dealers in Nazi-looted art. The claims have been repeatedly denied by the Hunt family and friends of the couple.
In his letter to the Taoiseach, Dr Samuels said he had met the Minister's adviser in July.
He was told "that the investigation had floundered due to lack of funding, and that it was probable that the matter would be transferred to the responsibility of the Royal Irish Academy".
