Man held in probe into theft of State-owned art

Gardaí have arrested a man as part of a major investigation into the theft of State-owned art from private storage.

The investigation had centred on Kildare and Dublin, but, following extensive inquiries, moved to Limerick, where the suspect was apprehended.

The theft of art, revealed in the Irish Examiner last October, only emerged after a civil servant spotted two State paintings for sale while on the internet.

The artwork was in a catalogue of well-known Dublin auctioneer’s Adams. They were subsequently retrieved by gardaí.

Two of the paintings were portraits of the first earl of Kenmare and his second wife, Mary Aylmer, who lived in Killarney House and were the work of Hugh Douglas Hamilton.

They were due to be sold at private auction, for between €20,000-€30,000. Both portraits had been previously sold in London. A third painting, by James Seymour, was sold at auction in England in 2010.

As a result, it became clear the paintings had been stolen some years ago but the theft was never discovered.

It was originally thought the paintings, owned by the Department of Arts, Heritage, and the Gaeltacht, were supposed to have been held in a private storage facility in Naas.

When gardaí, assisted by department staff, checked the facility they discovered a number of paintings and other items were missing.

Detectives from Naas, assisted by garda experts from the art and antiques Unit, located in the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, conducted detailed inquiries.

They subsequently established the paintings had in fact been stolen from a different storage facility, in Limerick. They may have been destined for the facility in Naas but never arrived.

Further inquiries led to the arrest of a man, aged in his early 40s, in the Shannon area by local gardaí yesterday morning.

A Garda spokesman said planned searches were being conducted in the Limerick area.

After the theft emerged, the Department of Arts announced it was conducting an inventory of all artwork, furniture and other items held in storage on its behalf.