A friend of a woman who denies handling stolen paintings from the Beit collection has described a visit with her and her sons to Russborough House a month before the theft.
Bernadette Byrne said she toured the stately home for her birthday in May 2001 with Rosemary Quinn and Ian and Garreth Quinn, her adult sons.
She told the third day of the trial that she recalled visiting the music room from which the Thomas Gainsborough painting entitled Madame Baccelli and a Bernardo Belotto painting entitled A View of Florence were stolen the following month.
Ms Quinn (48), St Aongus Park, Tallaght, has pleaded not guilty at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to handling the stolen paintings, valued at €2.6 million, on June 26th, 2001.
Ms Byrne told Dominic McGinn, prosecuting, that she remembered discussing the art collection with Ms Quinn on the way home, but as neither Ms Quinn nor her sons had an interest in art, she thought they did not pay attention to her.
Ms Byrne first learned about the stolen paintings when she saw it on the RTÉ television news after she came home from work that evening. She had been living in Ms Quinn's home at the time and Ms Quinn was there when she returned.
Ms Byrne told Niall Durnin SC, defending, that Ms Quinn was sick during 2000-2001 and had to be admitted to St James's Hospital on many occasions.
She agreed that Ms Quinn was also attending a psychiatrist as she had difficulty in coming to terms with the fact she had recently been diagnosed with a form of hepatitis.
Kevin Dowling, a Vodafone technical support manager, told Mr McGinn he had been asked by gardaí to analysis the 2001 call data records of a specific customer, believed to be one of the thieves. He said the analysis showed that on June 26th, this customer made numerous calls to a Vodafone number belonging to Ms Quinn. They also made many calls to an Esat Digifone (now O2) number phone registered under the name of her son, Ian.
The trial continues.