Leading Irish painter Ballagh set to sue State over artists’ royalties

LEADING Irish artist Robert Ballagh is to sue the State over its failure to implement an EU directive which would earn artists a percentage when their work is resold.

The 2001 directive guarantees artists a royalty of up to 5% on the resale of their work by auctioneers and other professional dealers.

EU states were to implement it by January 1 last, but the Government is unlikely to pass legislation to comply with it until later this year. In the meantime, no facility exists for artists to claim the royalty.

A painting Mr Ballagh sold as Martyrs for between £100 and £150 in 1969 was resold as Demonstrators 1969 for €5,000 on February 5. The sale, at an auction in Dublin, should have guaranteed the artist a royalty of between €200 and €250.

“What is at stake here is not the money but the principle,” Mr Ballagh said.

“I am meeting with my counsel today to discuss the case. The legislation is being sponsored by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, so I will most likely be suing the minister, Micheál Martin.”

Mr Ballagh has been lobbying for the artists’ royalty scheme at EU level for the past 25 years. With the passing of the directive in 2001, he has concentrated on ensuring the scheme will be implemented in Ireland.

To this end, he has been involved in the establishment of the Irish Visual Artists Rights Organisation. IVARO has made representations to the Government on how the directive should be implemented, and hopes to collect the royalty on behalf of visual artists at work in Ireland.

Under the directive, auction houses and professional art dealers are obliged to subtract a royalty of up to 5% on the resale of artworks worth more than €3,000. However, IVARO wants the threshold to be set at €1,000 in Ireland. This royalty is to be paid each time an artwork is resold.

The Government has yet to decide when the scheme will be implemented, how it will be administered, what percentage of resales will be paid to artists, or whether the scheme will be extended to the estates of dead artists.

It is Mr Ballagh’s hope that his legal action will encourage the Government to prioritise the legislation.

“If the Government can rush through legislation on the sale of magic mushrooms, then it can also fast-track legislation on the artists’ royalty,” he said.