2026-05-07

5. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if he is aware of the law adopted by the French National Assembly in April 2026 with regard to the repatriation of heritage objects taken as part of colonial plunder; if he plans to establish a similar framework for cultural heritage objects in this State; when the advisory committee on the restitution and repatriation of cultural heritage last met; and the recommendations made. [33424/26]

This question is about the law adopted by the French National Assembly on 30 April with regard to the repatriation of heritage objects taken as a result of colonial plunder. I ask if the Minister plans to establish a similar framework of cultural heritage objects in this State, when the advisory committee on the restitution and repatriation of cultural heritage last met and the recommendations it has made.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important question. The issues of restitution and repatriation are complex and sensitive matters which have significant impacts on families and communities of origin, as well as more broadly on the cultural landscape. I am aware of the legislation recently passed by the French National Assembly which creates a legal framework for the return of cultural objects taken from former colonies, replacing the previous requirement for separate, case-by-case legislation for restitution. In Ireland, the advisory committee on restitution and repatriation was established in 2023 to advise the Government on matters relating to restitution and repatriation of culturally sensitive objects held in collections in Ireland. The advisory committee has been expertly chaired by Sir Donnell Deeny, chairman of the UK Government's Spoliation Advisory Panel and member of the Court of Arbitration for Art in The Hague. The Heritage Council provides the secretariat, and the committee's membership brought together diverse experiences, expertise and perspectives from potential claimant communities, the national cultural institutions and other collecting institutions, and the fields of law, ethics, academia, public policy and cultural heritage. As part of its work, the advisory committee considered the associated legal, ethical, policy, procedural and institutional issues and reviewed the international best practice research available in this area. In 2024, the Heritage Council undertook a national survey to understand the scope and the scale of cultural heritage collections in Ireland. These findings have significantly informed the advisory committee's work and will also be of great interest and benefit to the cultural heritage sector. Through its work, the advisory committee will provide guidance to support cultural institutions and other bodies that have responsibility for managing historic collections, on associated matters, including collections management and provenance research. I am very pleased with the progress that the committee has made in this regard to date. The committee as a whole met most recently in November 2025 with significant strands of work also being progressed between meetings. I received the committee's interim report early last year and I am due to receive its final report shortly. I will bring this to Government at the earliest opportunity and I intend to then publish it without delay. I will give full consideration to the advisory committee's recommendations and I will then bring a plan to the Government to seek support for implementation.

The French National Assembly in some ways is setting out where we need to go with this but, given that it is a former imperialist and colonial power, it has a lot more work to do than we should have. That is not to say that there is not within our national institution collections elements of colonial plunder. We should look to ensure that the repatriation of those, where demanded or sought, takes place. As to the real question, the Minister has mentioned the advisory committee on restitution and repatriation of cultural heritage, saying that it met in November. I believe he also said it was due to meet in February, which was its final meeting. When do we expect the committee's recommendations and final report?

It is expected shortly. As I said in my reply, I will bring the report to the Government and then publish it. I do not disagree with anything the Deputy has said. 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. I do not disagree with that term. I believe the Deputy is being very mild-mannered in using it. 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. 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 a compulsion on European Union countries that are funding museums they know to contain loot that was taken from people against their will to recover it and return it to those people's countries. That includes Ireland.

There are a number of issues here. We are not in disagreement. We must ensure our national cultural institutions and other museums are aware of this issue and will take a proper approach to it. However, funding is required to address that and perhaps to make 3D copies of the material on display so that we would still have a facsimile in the collection. As the Minister has said, it is not a one-way street. Over the years, we have seen countries, particularly England, holding material belonging to or relevant to Ireland that is hidden away in museums. This material is sometimes surplus to the museums' requirements. Such material has sometimes been given back by way of permanent loan rather than being returned outright. When he worked in a museum, my father managed to return some such items without anybody's permission. These items now sit in a museum.

His methodologies may have been a bit different and might be a bit unorthodox for a Deputy of Dáil Éireann to be advocating. However, I do not disagree with the sentiment. If there are materials in other museums, particularly in countries that were formerly colonial powerhouses, including the one that occupied this State, in the modern world of 2026 there is a compulsion on them to look into their hearts and recognise that this stuff was taken against the will of the people from whom it was taken and that it really does not belong where it is. That is particularly the case where it is archived and shoved into presses or cupboards but it does also apply to stuff that is on permanent display that clearly does not belong to the country in question. There are some museums that contain nothing belonging to the state in which it is located but rather a mixum-gatherum of stuff that was literally stolen from all over the world. In 2026, any right-thinking democracy needs to take a long look at itself and say that now is the time to begin the process of repatriation as part of restitution and an overall recovery package for what was done during colonialism. I certainly support the Deputy's point. I look forward to the final report, which I will publish. Once I publish it, I expect our national cultural institutions and those institutions funded by my Department that are not NCIs to act appropriately.