Madam, - I applaud Minister for Arts John O'Donoghue's suggestion, as reported in your edition of July 10th, that works bought for Great Southern Hotels under the Arts Council's joint purchase scheme should be handed over to the State at no cost.
All of these purchases were jointly funded by the State subject to the condition that they be placed where they could be viewed by the public. Selling them to private buyers would be a breach of that condition - but more importantly, one has no entitlement to sell what one doesn't own. In addition, many of the works will increase considerably in value in years to come.
If Great Southern Hotels is to be sold, these art works should rightfully be transferred back to the State. Clearly, the most appropriate place to house them is the Irish Museum of Modern Art.
When researching a book on the Irish painter Camille Souter, I was once given a list of works by her bought under the joint purchase scheme. Several of the organisations that bought them - Coras Trachtála, the Intercontinental Hotel among others - are now defunct. When I asked the Arts Council where these art works were now housed, nobody could tell me. If this is the case with just one artist's work bought under the scheme, I can only imagine how many works of art are now missing and how many may have been sold illegally.
A full investigation to locate all art bought under the scheme should be carried out immediately. Should it transpire that any works were sold without the Arts Council's consent, the State should seek their return at no cost. - Yours, etc,
GARRETT CORMICAN, Portmarnock, Co Dublin.