Bank of Ireland art nets £1.3bn

Protesters claimed the art works should be donated to the nation. But the €1.5m (£1.3m) raised from the sale of Bank of Ireland's collection will go to community-based arts projects, rather than the crisis-rocked bank itself.

The auction at Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin, on Wednesday evening followed stark criticism of the Bank's multi-billion euro bailout.

Some 99 per cent of the lots were sold, the most lucrative Paul Henry's Clouds at Sunset, which fetched $66,000. More than 3,500 people attended the public viewings, and about 500 the auction itself, which came the day after it was revealed that the IMF and EU bailouts will, in effect, nationalise Bank of Ireland.