Ireland’s culture Minister Patrick O’Donovan was responding to questions from Sinn Fein TD Aengus O Snodaigh, who told the Dail his father had returned such items to Ireland “without anybody’s permission”.
Mr O Snodaigh said countries – particularly England – were holding material belonging to Ireland that is “hidden away in museums”. “This material is sometimes surplus to the museums’ requirements.
Minister O’Donovan also remarked:
‘There are post-colonial museums scattered all over Europe like feathers out of a bag and these contain plunder from all over the place, including from Ireland.
‘There is not currently a comprehensive list of Irish cultural objects held in collections internationally.
‘Restitution cannot be a one-way street. We need to see if there is anything in Irish institutions that is connected to, funded by or associated with colonial plundering.’
‘We cannot ask others to do as we say and not to do as we do. In a similar way, if other countries, particularly European Union and former European Union countries, have plunder from here, restitution needs to be examined.
