Bureaucratic delays tied up return of ‘Liberator’ painting

It took more than two years for Ireland to accept the gift of a painting of Daniel O’Connell from a bank, after concerns that the Irish parliament was only receiving a copy of the original portrait.

O’Connell, known as The Liberator, was known for his campaigns of Catholic emancipation and drive towards the repeal of the act of union between Great Britain and Ireland.

He also had a career as a banker – where he was immortalised in an 1838 portrait that became the subject of a years-long campaign.

Newly released files from the National Archives in Dublin show a protracted process in which plans to display that original portrait in the Irish parliament buildings were changed, sparking some concern and a desire for a “low-key” handover ceremony for a copy.

The repatriation of the portrait dates back to early 2001, when Irish diplomat Dan Mulhall contacted the chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) about the portrait of O’Connell which he came across at an exhibition in Edinburgh.

Mr Mulhall suggested that the portrait be moved to Ulster Bank in Dublin, given that RBS – now part of NatWest – had acquired the bank.

The painting is understood to have originally been commissioned by one of the National Bank of Ireland’s early directors, an organisation for which O’Connell was chairman.

The National Bank was split up and a section of it, including the painting, was purchased by the National Commercial Bank of Scotland which later became part of RBS.

Correspondence between the bank and Mr Mulhall in August of that year show that RBS wanted to move the portrait to the embassy in London as soon as possible, in the further hope that the Ambassador would host a reception.

From there, RBS envisaged the portrait could be moved to Leinster House between September and January 2004 and that this “might be the right occasion for the Taoiseach” to welcome the painting to Ireland.

It was then suggested that the original would move to the National Gallery after a copy for Leinster House was completed, until a permanent home for the artwork was found in Dublin’s Ulster Bank base.

However, issues requiring clarification later arose in October, according to newly released documents from the Department of An Taoiseach.

The Department asked the then clerk of the Dail on October 31 whether the portrait will be accepted by Leinster House.

The Irish Embassy and the Royal Bank wanted to know if Leinster House would accept the portrait, with the former expecting that the latter would desire a “handing-over ceremony”.

Another factor that might delay the handover was the process of making a copy, although if Leinster House chose not to accept the portrait – a duplicate would not be necessary.

Follow-up calls to the Oireachtas Committee on Procedure and Privileges occurred between then and November 19, where the Department was told the committee would have a meeting on the matter – originally scheduled for the previous week – on November 28.

The Department had told Leinster House that the Embassy and the bank wanted to be in a position to say what the future plans for the portrait would be by November 22.

The committee said it would establish a sub-committee to consider works of art for Leinster House in general.

It was not until December 20 when Leinster House confirmed that the Dail and Seanad committees had accepted the portrait.

However, a subsequent change of plans emerged, and a copy of the painting was made in London while the original was in the embassy there.

Both were then transported to the National Gallery instead and a reception was held in September 2002 featuring Arts Minister John O’Donoghue.

The cost of transporting, insuring and making the copy were borne by the bank.

It meant that the original painting did not first go on display in Leinster House as initially envisaged.

When contacted by the Department of An Taoiseach, the Gallery was not open to releasing the original to Leinster House – according to the newly released Government documents.

The bank had intimated that the painting might be given on loan and Leinster House would have liked to receive the original as agreed by the committees.

In a departmental document, Leinster House is recorded as preferring a “low-key approach” to accepting the copy under the new circumstances.

Reservations had also been expressed about accepting gifts from commercial organisations, the document states.

It was suggested that the copy be placed in Leinster House on a Saturday morning when no one was around and that the Ceann Comhairle could ask bank executives, at some point, to come in to view it.

Ulster Bank officials felt the National Gallery event did not provide the profile they had hoped for, and had instead desired that the original had been accepted by a “significant person” – the Taoiseach or Minister for Finance.

However, Leinster House revised its position and suggested that the Taoiseach could accept the copy in its grounds.

This was acceptable to the Taoiseach in March 2003, with the bank also agreeing on the grounds the original portrait’s place in the National Gallery would be acknowledged.

On April 8 2003, the Department made efforts to finalise plans with Leinster House.

On May 15, the procedures committee recommended that the copy of the portrait be placed in Room 2, off Leinster House’s Main Hall.

The Government formally accepted the copy as a “gift to the nation” on June 24 and the handing over ceremony took place on July 1 2003.

The original portrait, commissioned from the renowned 19th century artist Sir David Wilkie, remains on display – as part of the loan arrangement – at the National Gallery in Dublin.

In recent years, NatWest decided to wind down Ulster Bank in Ireland. However a spokesman said there is no current plan for the bank to end the loan agreement.

As part of that withdrawal, the bank gifted dozens of artworks to the National Gallery while others were auctioned off for a fund with Communities Foundation Ireland.

– This article is based on the 2024/130/9 file.