Thanks a lot for checking Ben!
There are photos from 1999 (I think kindly linked above in this very thread) of the mk2As and they had already been painted black by then as well.
http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/ie/car/IE/pix.html
That's a mk2b or c in your pic though, right? (I'm no expert but from what I know only from the b series on did they get those classic wraparound doors, the mk2 and mk2as still having "normal" doors)