The retired Supreme Court judge Mr Justice Donal Barrington is to lead the inquiry into the Hunt Museum collection in Limerick, part of which, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, may have been looted by the Nazis.
The judge will be assisted in his work by two British-based experts, including the chairwoman of the London-based European Commission for Looted Art, Ms Anne Webber.
The commission was founded in 1999 to identify, trace and recover cultural property looted between 1933 and 1945 for families and institutions worldwide. It represents the European Council of Jewish Communities and the Conference of European Rabbis. Ms Webber is also a member of the British Spoliation Advisory Committee, which supervises provenance research work for British museums for the second World War period.
The other member of the group is Mr Hugh Tait, a former deputy keeper at the British Museum and an expert in European antiquities from the early Christian era to the beginning of the 19th century.
The Hunt Museum director, Ms Virginia Teehan, said she was confident the review group would "ensure that we will get to the bottom of these allegations".
The allegations surfaced after the Wiesenthal Centre wrote to the President, Mrs McAleese, urging her to withdraw the Museum of the Year award won last year by the museum.
The family of the late John and Gertrude Hunt have said the allegations of Nazi links are without foundation. Mr John Hunt jnr and Ms Trudi Hunt have stood aside from the museum board pending the investigation.
The review group has been asked to convene in the next three weeks.
It was announced in London yesterday that Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal has been awarded an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth, in recognition of a lifetime of service to humanity.