Director Ron Radford said, ''It's a wrench for us because they are so loved''.

''People come here from all over Australia to see them and I think there will be complaints when they come here and the Ned Kelly series is not here.''

It has taken six years of negotiations but persistence has paid off for the Irish Museum of Modern Art, which will borrow the paintings until early next year.

Mr Radford said the National Gallery had delayed sending the Sidney Nolan series, depicting key moments in the life of the bushranger, to Ireland because it wanted to show the collection off in a new, specially designed oval shaped space in Canberra, made especially for the Ned Kelly collection.

''We did not just want to open the space and send them away so it's gone on a bit but they [Irish Museum of Modern Art] never lost interest which has been good in a way because it shows how well regarded these works are internationally,'' he said.

''It's not really for us to deny Australian art to countries that really want to see them.''

Mr Radford said Ireland, through its national gallery, had lent the National Gallery an exhibition about 15 years ago of work from the old masters of 16-18th century Europe.

''It is nice to lend something back to Ireland,'' he said.

Ireland's Ambassador to Australia Noel White, who was at the gallery yesterday to mark the major international loan, expected the Ned Kelly series to draw a large number of visitors to the museum in Dublin.

''I think this is a momentous occasion really because it's hugely important in terms of the co-operation between these galleries and those deep links and bonds between Ireland and Australia,'' he said.

''It captures in a way that shared heritage and I think there is considerable interest in Ireland for Ned Kelly and Sidney Nolan.

''Sidney Nolan was a sixth generation Australian but with Irish ancestry and he was very comfortable with his Irishness, which was documented in his biography.''

Senior curator of Australian art post-1920 for the National Gallery, Deborah Hart, will travel with the collection to Dublin and play a key role in its installation in its temporary home.

''When this series was first exhibited in 1948 they were really seen as ground breaking works with the way he [Nolan] chose to set the figure in the landscape,'' she said.

''I think he was fascinated with this idea of Ned being on the run.

''He looked at a lot of European modernism and was very aware of Picasso and other modernists.

''There is that 'other' dimension to the art works themselves.

''They were painted in enamel on the kitchen table at Heide.

''We will miss them when they are overseas but we look forward to sharing them with the public in Ireland.''