Last year I set up an Advisory Committee on the Restitution and Repatriation of Historically and Culturally Sensitive Objects in Ireland. The committee met for the first time on 4th December 2023 and began their work on this important topic. It is anticipated that the work of the committee will be carried out over 18 months, subject to the direction that the committee decides to take.
The objective of the committee is to provide policy advice and prepare national guidelines to support Irish cultural institutions in dealing with objects of unknown provenance in their collections, including those that may have been illegally or unethically elicited or traded.
Currently, there are no guidelines for cultural institutions in Ireland regarding how to deal with such objects. The new advisory committee will provide critical support to collection managers regarding professional standards in the management of cultural heritage. I believe that the work of the advisory committee will also provide Irish cultural institutions with an opportunity to openly and transparently tackle difficult issues which will improve benefit of public awareness on these issues. I look forward to reviewing the output of their work in due course.
In regard to the National Museum of Ireland, the Board of the Museum is well aware that, like many museums established in the 19th century, the NMI has legacy collections that do not reflect contemporary collecting practices or ethics. The Board had committed to an overall decolonisation process at the Museum including the repatriation of objects within the collection. This will be done through a case by case approach, based on research to get a full understanding of the provenance of each piece within the collection.
The NMI is also committed to engaging with communities, artists and researchers who wish to access the collection. These engagements will help inform the overall NMI strategy for the collection in the longer term.
