A High Court judge has refused to grant the 18th Baron of Inchiquin, Conor O’Brien, a mandatory order for the recovery of his 37 ancestral portraits that hang in Dromoland Castle Hotel.

By Ray Managh

The 18th Baron Inchiquin turned up at Dromoland Castle Hotel in the early hours of the morning with a Northern Ireland removals company in a bid to unlawfully take family portraits off the walls, the High Court has been told.

Lawyers for the head of the O'Brien clan, who this week secured judgment for €7.9m against a company controlled by businessman Denis O'Brien which reneged on a land deal, are now seeking to have the well known entrepreneur and other directors of the company made personally liable for the costs of the action.