Clare Fianna Fáil TD, Cathal Crowe, has called for the opening of discussions with the British Government to seek the return of Irish items which are currently held by the British museum.
Thousands of items are believed to be held by the London based museum, with only a fraction of these actually on display to the public.
Deputy Crowe is leading the charge for the return of Irish items, recently telling the Dáil that the Irish Government should follow the example of countries like Egypt in beginning discussions to bring about the repatriation of native items.
According to Deputy Crowe: “There are over 6,000 Irish items held by the British museum. Approximately 1,300 of these are ancient artefacts and relics, with thousands more historic prints, letters and coins. These are items which have historic significance for this island and instead of being displayed and experienced by the general public, they are locked away in archive boxes in London.
“While a portion of these items were acquired through legitimate means over the centuries, many others were outright plundered or looted by marauding colonial armies. In the modern world, there is a clear moral compulsion for former colonial powers to address cultural restitution.
“I am the first to acknowledge that History should be a shared global commodity. In an ideal world, our children should be able to walk into a museum in London and see Celtic history, just as we can view ancient Egyptian history in Dublin. However, if the British Museum has no intention of displaying our national treasures, they should be considering returning them.
“We need active, government-to-government dialogue to bring these pieces home. Countries like Egypt have long-established channels of communication with London regarding their heritage, and Ireland must adopt the same approach. Bringing these artefacts back to be housed in our National Museums or distributed to local regional museums across counties like Clare, would be an incredible victory for our national identity.”
Responding to Deputy Crowe, Taoiseach Micheál Martin acknowledged the merit of his suggestion and drew comparison to international precedent, saying: “Deputy Crowe proposed a very interesting idea. I was in France last week and we agreed a project with the French authorities to digitise some Irish archives in France.
Taoiseach Martin continued: “For example, in Vincennes, there are original letters from Wolfe Tone, including his last letter to the French authorities, asking them to look after his wife and family because he had served the French army in the cause of Ireland. There are also documents relating to Samuel Beckett’s role in the French resistance. All of that is in documentation, in French, and sometimes our historians and other interested people do not get access to it. We are going to digitise it and make it available to the public more generally.”
Following up in writing this week, Taoiseach Martin confirmed that an Advisory Committee on the Restitution and Repatriation of Cultural Heritage is due to present a report to the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan, within the next few weeks. It is hoped that their recommendations will inform national guidelines on the restitution of cultural objects in Ireland, which will in-turn be important in supporting future efforts to seek the return of cultural heritage materials from abroad.
