It has been described as the most reproduced, recycled and ripped-off image of the 20th century but now Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick says he wants his iconic image of Che Guevara to become a money spinner.

However, Fitzpatrick (above) says he doesn't want to profit from the image but intends to sign over any proceeds to a childrens' hospital in Cuba.

"This is how I want the story to end. I'm in good health but I want to do this before the end of my life. Cuba trains doctors and then sends them around the world. I want their medical system to benefit."

The Skerries-born artist created the portrait after coming across a photo of Guevara by Alberto Diaz Gutierrez, known as Korda, in Stern magazine in 1967. Shortly after Guevera was killed, Fitzpatrick showed his poster at an exhibition in London, where it became a best-seller.

Fitzpatrick said he took Guevara's murder by the Bolivian army personally because when he was working as a barman at the Marine Hotel in Kilkee he met the revolutionary.

"Che was flying back from Moscow to Havana when his plane got grounded by fog at Shannon. He walked into the pub and I recognised him straight away."

Along with signing over the copyright of his Che image to the William Soler Pediatric Cardiology Hospital in Havana, Fitzpatrick says he wants to gift the original artwork to the Che Guevara Lynch archive run by his widow, Aleida March.