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Irish Times
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Prominent Irish art from collection of former postman for sale at deVeres
The late art collector Alan Conroy had a good eye – an innate ability to discern quality. 'It's amazing how few people can distinguish a great painting from a good one, and how many people enthusiastically buy poor ones,' writes Dr Frances Ruane in a catalogue essay about him. The former postman, who lived in a relatively small house filled with art, art books and catalogues, regularly visited art galleries and auction rooms. He collected the work of prominent Irish artists from the 1970s onwards including Nano Reid, Sean McSweeney, Barrie Cooke, Colin Middleton, John Shinnors, Charles Tyrrell and Patrick Scott. 'His acquisitions suggest that he was drawn specifically to the painterly, semi-abstract tendency that dominated Irish art of that period,' writes Dr Ruane in the deVeres catalogue for an upcoming sale of part of his collection. READ MORE Conroy bequeathed several paintings to the National Gallery and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Now, the remaining 60 paintings in his collection are included in the Irish Art & Sculpture auction at deVeres on Tuesday, May 27th, at 6pm. One painting of note in the auction is Summer Inscape, Callan by Tony O'Malley (€15,000-€20,000). Dr Ruane describes O'Malley as 'a kingpin of the poetic genre that dominated the second half of the 20th century' – more upbeat than Louis le Brocquy and Patrick Collins, and more positively enraptured by his subjects and by certain places such as his birthplace, Callan, Co Kilkenny. O'Malley often drew from memory, capturing the 'inscape' of the place. Interestingly, Head of Tony O'Malley by Brian Bourke (€2,000-€3,000) is one of several pieces of sculpture in the deVeres auction. The sculptures will be exhibited in the garden of the Merrion Hotel, Dublin 2, May 19th-26th, while the art is on view at deVeres showrooms at 35 Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Meanwhile, just around the corner, Whyte's auction rooms on Molesworth Street is also hosting an Irish and international art auction next week, on Monday, May 26th at 6pm in the Freemasons Hall, 17 Molesworth Street. The auction includes many impressive paintings by some of Ireland's best-known 20th-century artists, including Wiliam Percy French, Mildred Anne Butler, Grace Henry and Willian Leech. Anglesea Market, Dublin 1933 by Harry Kernoff (€30,000-€50,000) at Whyte's Irish and International Art auction Anglesea Market, Dublin, 1933 by Harry Kernoff (€30,000-€50,000), a painting purchased directly from the artist and for sale for the first time since then, is one piece of note. Viewing of all works in Whyte's galleries is May 19th-26th. Also at 31 Molesworth Street, Bonhams will hold a showcase of paintings, prints, furniture and sculpture in their forthcoming summer London sales, May 22nd-28th. Jack B Yeats: Crossing the City Roderic O'Conor: A Woman Seated, Holding Two Roses These include highly collectable pieces by Paul Henry (The Milk Cart £120,000-£180,000/€140,000-€210,000), Jack B Yeats (Crossing the City, £100,000-£150,000/€120,000-€170,000) and Roderic O'Conor (A Woman Seated, Holding Two Roses, £50,000-£70,000/€58,000-€81,000) all of which will be for sale in Bonhams' Modern British and Irish Art auction on New Bond Street, London, on June 18th. Prints by Andy Warhol, Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein and others to be sold at Bonhams Print sale on New Bond Street, London, on June 25th, will also be on show. Finally, Adam's online auction of architectural salvage and garden statuary on Tuesday, May 20th, is on view at their auction partner The Store Yard in Portlaoise, Co Laois, today, tomorrow and Monday. The Store Yard – which was recently featured in this column – is a treasure trove of antiques and collectables. This auction has a wide selection of stone statues and busts from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, as well as garden urns, cast iron gates, seats and fountains. In a catalogue essay, garden designer Diarmuid Gavin writes poetically that 'statues softened by time, urns that have held the weight of trailing roses, sundials once surrounded by lavender and bees' bring a 'quiet grandeur' to gardens. As Ireland has basked in early summer sun this year, garden owners will no doubt be seeking out striking pieces to enrich their verdant surroundings. Gavin continues, 'as a garden designer, I believe that beauty in a garden lies as much in its ornamentation and craft as in its growth – and these pieces offer that rare stillness, anchoring a space in both history and imagination.' The top lot in the Adam's Home to Garden auction is a pair of mid-18th-century limestone Medici Lions (€50,000-€70,000) The top lot in the Adam's House to Garden auction is a pair of mid 18th century limestone Medici lions (€50,000-€70,000). Inspired by a second-century Roman marble statue and a later work carved by Roman sculptor Flaminio Vacca for Villa Medici in Rome (later moved to Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence), carved stone versions of the Medici lions became widely adopted ornaments in 18th-century gardens in Britain and Ireland. Another standout piece is a cast-iron fountain of the Three Graces (daughters of Zeus) (€8,000-€12,000), made in 19th-century Paris, inspired by one commissioned by Catherine de Medici to house the ashes of her husband, King Henri II of France. , , , What did it sell for? Ring with Kashmir sapphire and diamonds Kashmir sapphire Estimate €150,000-€200,000 Hammer price €550,000 Auction house Adam's A rare cultured pearl clip pendant brooch circa 1940 Pearl clip pendant brooch, circa 1940 Estimate €5,000-€7,000 Hammer price Not sold Auction house Adam's An early-20th-century pearl necklace with diamond clasp, circa 1920 Early-20th-century pearl necklace Estimate €8,000-€12,000 Hammer price €48,000 Auction house Adam's René Boivin Bombé ring René Boivin Bombé ring Estimate €15,000 – €20,000 Hammer price €17,000 Auction house Adam's
RTÉ News
15-05-2025
- Business
- RTÉ News
New economic indicator shows improvement in Ireland's competitiveness ranking
New research has shown that Ireland's international competitiveness ranking would improve if Modified Gross National Income (GNI*) is used as an economic indicator instead of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). GNI* is seen as a more accurate measure of the domestic economy as it excludes much of the impact of the multinational sector. The National Competitiveness and Productivity Council (NCPC) has published research re-estimating Ireland's performance in the IMD World Competitiveness Ranking 2024. The study shows that the country rises by one position in the ranking, with improvements in three of the four pillars, when key metrics are recalibrated to better reflect the scale of the domestic economy. The IMD World Competitiveness Ranking is a widely used international benchmark, assessing over 60 economies across four key pillars and 20 sub-pillars, and based on 250 individual measures. The estimate shows notable gains in economic performance and infrastructure, business efficiency is unchanged, while Government efficiency declines slightly. "This reassessment of Ireland's competitiveness provides a more accurate and meaningful picture of our economic strengths and vulnerabilities, and how these impact on our international competitiveness performance," said Dr Frances Ruane, the Chair of the NCPC. "This research highlights the importance of interpreting international indices critically, and ensuring that benchmarking exercises reflect the realities of our domestic economy," Dr Ruane added.
Irish Independent
29-04-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Urgent need for action on banking competitiveness, says watchdog
The watchdog, which reports to the Government on competitiveness problems in the Irish economy, says it has made three separate recommendations in the last four years highlighting the lack of robust competition in domestic banking, but work on this is still 'in progress'. As a way of measuring competition in Irish banking, the NCPC compared interest rates for loans to new businesses in Ireland versus the euro area over the last six years. It found that Irish rates have been consistently higher, a differential that affects the competitiveness of SMEs in particular. As of February, the interest rate in Ireland was 5.66pc while the euro area rate was 3.97pc. There is a similar picture with bank interest rates for new loans for house purchases. Ireland had a higher rate from January 2018 until mid-2022 when the euro area experienced a sharp increase. As of February, Irish rates stood at 3.79pc compared to an average interest rate of 3.33pc across the eurozone. 'The higher interest rates in Ireland compared to the euro area underscore the need for sustained efforts to enhance competition in the banking sector and reduce costs for businesses,' the report says. There are currently only three retail banks – AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB. This follows the departure of several other operators, including Ulster Bank and KBC. The NCPC, which is chaired by Dr Frances Ruane, points out that it has also made a number of recommendations about the need to reduce legal costs. However it says that this remains an issue, as does the speed of getting legal decisions, and is having a negative impact on the competitiveness of businesses in Ireland, especially on SMEs. Its report also highlights the need for Ireland to improve its supply and use of green energy. 'There clearly remains a need for significant progress to be made if Ireland is to deliver on its offshore wind ambitions in a timeframe that meets our competitiveness requirements and our green energy targets,' it says. 'Under the Climate Action Plan 2025, Ireland is currently targeting an offshore wind capacity of 5GW. In the case of the Netherlands and Denmark, these targets are 22GW and 13GW, respectively. At present, Ireland no longer has any operational offshore wind capacity, compared to 101GW of capacity in operation in Norway, 5GW in the Netherlands, and 202MW in Sweden.' The NCPC has done a 'look-back' exercise examining 79 recommendations it made to the Government over a four-year period. The review assesses the progress made in implementing these recommendations, and evaluates the Government's responses, between 2020 and 2023. The NCPC found that the Government fully delivered on 45 recommendations, while another 34 are still in progress. 'These require further action and may be completed in the near future,' the NCPC says. 'The fact that it is – relatively speaking – those recommendations made in more recent years which are still underway underscores the time taken to make progress and may point to the need for a more efficient pace of delivery.' Infrastructure is the only category to have more recommendations deemed to be 'in progress' than 'action taken'. As well as legal costs, this includes affordable housing, childcare costs, planning, energy and water/wastewater infrastructure, digitalisation, and training. Over the last two years, competitiveness has moved to near the top of the EU agenda. This follows publication of the Draghi Report, which called on the EU to close the innovation gap with America.
