CIT’s €22k portraits of president and chairman ‘done in Ireland’ not Italy

The artist who painted portraits of the president of Cork Institute of Technology and chair of its governing board has contradicted a whistleblower’s claims that the two men had travelled abroad to sit for the paintings at the college’s expense.

Mick O’Dea said CIT president Brendan Murphy and a former chairman of the governing body, Dr Paddy Caffrey, sat for the portraits in his Dublin studio, not in Italy as had been claimed.

The artist’s comments came following an investigation into an extensive report compiled by the whistleblower which was sent to the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee.