Sir, – Whatever the outcome of the battle to save the Beit paintings due for sale at Christie’s, it is important that lessons are learned from the controversy to ensure a better alignment between the operation of private trusts and the public interest in heritage resources under their care in future.
We know that over €2 million have been invested in Russborough over the years through the Heritage Council, and other public money has apparently gone into the place via tourism development funds. These are not inconsiderable investments, and the mere fact that the Beit Foundation considered itself entitled to apply for such funding can in itself be seen as an implicit acknowledgement of a legitimate public interest.
In the light of the controversy surrounding the disposal of paintings from the collection, it is a pity the foundation did not at some stage seek accreditation for the house and its contents under the Heritage Council’s Museums Standards Programme for Ireland. The programme, which has been running since 2006, requires that museums and historic properties meet a total of 34 standards, ranging across the fields of governance, strategic management, collections care and public access. In its definition of a collection, and in the way it specifies the conditions under which museums should go about disposing of objects, the standards programme is fully consistent with the International Council of Museums’ code of ethics. This requires that objects are considered for disposal only as a last resort and following transparent processes of deliberation and decision-making. Indeed, if the foundation were currently in the programme, it is probable that its current actions would have disbarred it.
Given the substantial sums of public funding that have already gone into Russborough, and the demand that the Government should step in to help resolve the current crisis, it is essential that a clearer policy be put in place to secure the public interest in such investments. An obvious improvement would be to make eligibility for public funding of museums and historic houses conditional upon membership of the Museum Standards Programme. There might in addition be some conditions around governance, including, for example, timely rotation of board membership, preferably on a five-yearly basis. – Yours, etc,
PAT COOKE,
Director,
MA in Cultural Policy
and Arts Management,
Department of Arts History
and Cultural Policy,
Belfield, Dublin 4.