Lasting legacy of Fota campaign

THE Irish Heritage Trust is to be congratulated on its thorough restoration of Fota House on Fota Island, Cork, and on securing most of the collection of Irish paintings and furniture I assembled during the 1970s.

They were displayed at Fota for public enjoyment between 1982 and 1991 before the house fell into disrepair and the land was put up for sale by my landlord. Since then Limerick University provided an excellent home for the paintings. Sadly, an important group of paintings has been excluded from the gift to the Irish Heritage Trust.

The role of the Government’s enlightened tax credit scheme for gifts of national importance to institutions such as the Irish Heritage Trust was vital to the return of the collection.