Irish repatriation committee holds first meeting

Plans to provide advice on the restitution of cultural heritage held in Irish institutions moved forward this week with the first meeting of an advisory committee.

The group was created in June to develop guidelines on artefacts in Ireland that may have been illegally or unethically elicited or traded.

The committee has also been asked to advise the government on issues related to the restitution of historically and culturally sensitive objects and will develop guidance on provenance research as well.

There have been a number of recent cases in which Irish cultural institutions have become involved in repatriation projects.

These include Trinity College Dublin working with the residents of Inishbofin, an island off Ireland’s west coast, to determine what should be done with 13 skulls stolen from the island by a British anthropologist in 1890. The remains were brought back to the island earlier this year and reburied following a funeral mass.

And the National Museum of Ireland (NMI), Dublin, has taken steps to repatriate the Benin Bronzes in its collection. The cultural treasures were looted by the British army from Benin City, in present-day Nigeria, in 1897 and were then scattered across the world.

“The establishment of this committee is a significant step toward establishing best practices in Ireland regarding the restitution of cultural objects,” said Catherine Martin, the minister for tourism, culture, arts, Gaeltacht, sport and media.

“Both the chair and the committee members possess great expertise in this matter and I expect that their work will deepen our understanding of these complex and sensitive issues. I know that our cultural institutions will welcome this guidance.”

Committee members include and Chanté St. Clair Inglis, who is the head of collections at the National Museum of Scotland and a member of the Museums Association’s Ethics Committee.

Other members include Lynn Scarff, the director of the NMI, and Audrey Whitty, chair of the Irish Museums Association and director of the National Library of Ireland.

The committee is chaired by Donnell Deeny, the chairman of the UK Government’s Spoliation Advisory Panel and member of the Court of Arbitration for Art in The Hague.

Deeny said: “I was glad to accept the invitation of the minister to chair this committee, which will draw up guidelines and advise on delicate and complex issues relating to the restitution and repatriation of historic and cultural objects now in Ireland obtained in illegal or unethical circumstances in the past which call out for a remedy in the Ireland of today.”