Baron must wait on court bid to reclaim ancestral portraits from hotel

A High Court judge has reserved judgment on an application by Lord Inchiquin for the recovery of 37 ancestral portraits, including one of Brian Boru.

Conor O’Brien, the 18th Baron Inchiquin, is also seeking an order restraining Dromoland Castle Hotel, where the paintings have hung for decades, from making copies of the portraits.

Dromoland Castle Holdings Ltd claims it had been prepared to return the paintings to Lord Inchiquin after being allowed time to make the reproductions to cover the “chasms of wall space” laid bare by an en masse return of the portraits.