At a glance:
- No national laws or policies on repatriation
- As of 2023, an Expert Committee is currently working on advising the government on repatriation in preparation for a set of national guidelines
- The National Museum of Ireland has a Human Remains Policy that recognises UNDRIP and sets out a process for repatriation claims
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Overview
Ireland hasn’t been part of the United Kingdom since 1921, when Ireland gained their independence. Northern Ireland has remained within the United Kingdom. This page does not attempt to give a full overview of the complex and violent history between the British and the Irish, the legacies of which are still in many people’s memories today, but it is worth being aware of to help understand the country of Ireland.
There are currently no laws in relation to repatriation in Ireland. In June 2023, the Irish Government’s Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media announced that a new expert committee was being established to advise the Government on issues relating to the restitution and repatriation of culturally sensitive objects in Ireland. ‘The committee will undertake research into international best practice within the field of provenance research, restitution and repatriation, as well as engaging with key stakeholders to assess the scope of relevant cultural heritage collections in Ireland. 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.’
There’s no definition of ‘unknown provenance’ at the moment, but one could assume it means unknown to the museum.
Amy Shakespeare
Minister Catherine Martin said:
“The restitution and repatriation of cultural heritage is a complex and sensitive issue, and one that is increasingly coming to the fore for museums worldwide. That makes it all the more important that we provide structures and guidance to support our cultural institutions in navigating this terrain. I am confident that the work of this new Advisory Committee on Restitution and Repatriation will improve our understanding of cultural artefacts whose provenance would otherwise remain unknown and foster greater international dialogue and cooperation on these issues.”
In December 2023, the Irish Repatriation Committee held its first meeting. The UK Museums Association reported that:
“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.”
National Museum of Ireland
The National Museum of Ireland (NMI) is made up of four branches; Decorative Arts and History, Country Life, Natural History, and Archaeology. They have a publicly available Human Remains Policy. Within it, they write that they recognise the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and that ‘applications to repatriate Human Remains will be in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) (UN, 2007). Proposals will be submitted to the museum’s Director and passed to the NMI Board for consideration. NMI Panel on Human Remains NMI will nominate a panel of specialists to advise the NMI on applications for research, analysis, storage, collections care and ethical matters as required. The members of this panel will be recognised and experienced practitioners and academics involved in the analysis of human remains or ethical issues in relation to their study and display.’
There are no ways of searching their collections in their entirety online, so to find collections, you would have to request an inventory from the relevant curator. You can view part of the collections and find some curator lists here.
There is nothing on the return of belongings in their policies, although this may change once the expert committee has delivered their findings.
Routes to Return 