State papers: Irish College in Rome 'quite unsure' of location of Liberator's death bed

State papers showed the Office of Public Works had sought the return of Daniel O’Connell’s death bed to put it on display at his ancestral home in Derrynane, Co Kerry.

Irish diplomats believed the Irish College in Rome was unaware of the location of the death bed of Daniel O’Connell when a request was made for its return to Ireland 30 years ago.

The bed in which one of the most famous Irish political leaders had died on May 15, 1847, in the Italian city of Genoa had come into the care of the college in 1926.