National Gallery chairman questioned by de Valera about fund-raising `rumours'

The chairman of the National Gallery, Mrs Carmel Naughton, was asked by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands to account for "rumours" circulating about its financial arrangements.

Ms Sile de Valera sought a meeting with Mrs Naughton last Monday to discuss "the rumours she had heard over the weekend", according to her spokesman.

The meeting was also attended by the secretary-general of the Department, Mr Tadhg O hEalaithe.

The Minister subsequently requested that the information given at the meeting be put in writing. That report had been received, her spokesman added, and the secretary-general had sought clarification on "one or two aspects" of it.

The spokesman would not discuss the nature of the rumours or the issues on which clarification was sought.

Responding to the report in yesterday's Irish Times that at least two board members of the gallery are seeking full disclosure of the accounts of its private fund-raising foundation, Mrs Naughton said the matters referred to in media reports would be discussed at the December meeting of the board next Friday.

"All of the funds of the gallery, including funds raised for the purpose of the gallery extension, have been and continue to be held and managed for the sole and exclusive benefit of the gallery," she said in a short statement.

It had always been intended that the identity of private donors to the gallery would be made public at the appropriate time, Mrs Naughton concluded.

Her statement was later amended to say it had always been intended that the identity of private donors to the gallery would be made public "at a time to be agreed between the gallery and the donors".

Meanwhile, it is understood that very little money has been collected by the National Gallery Foundation, the private fund-raising arm of the gallery. It was set up in 1995, with Mr Charles Haughey as chairman, to raise funds for the £15.5 million Clare Street extension.

Sources close to the gallery's board said the bulk of the donations were in the form of written commitments which would fall for collection when the building work started early next year. Besides the commitments, a further £1 million has to be raised at this point to supplement the £7.5 million EU funding and £2 million Government grant to the project.

The lack of full information about the fund-raising foundation's activities has been formally placed on the agenda for next Friday's scheduled meeting of the gallery board by the chairman of the Commissioners of Public Works, Mr Barry Murphy. He, together with another member, Mr Ciaran MacGonigal, director of the Hunt Museum in Limerick, wants the board to be informed, as a board, about the names of the donors and the conditions attached to their donations.

Mrs Naughton maintains that the list of names is confidential. She has given the board general information about the amounts raised and invited members to talk to her privately if they want further information.