Baron tried to remove paintings from Dromoland

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.

Mark Nolan, managing director and general manager of the hotel, alleged in a sworn statement that Lord Inchiquin, otherwise known as Conor O’Brien, had told the night porter on Jul 10 that he had Mr Nolan’s permission to remove 37 paintings.

Mr Nolan said he had to be woken to stop Lord Inchiquin’s team taking the O’Brien ancestral family paintings, valued at €1.4m, off the walls. “It was not until I was notified of these activities and confronted by (Lord Inchiquin) and his associates that they removed themselves from the... premises,” he said.