Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 12 December 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs

Network of Regional and Local Museums: Discussion

1:30 pm

Photo of Fintan WarfieldFintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome all of the witnesses. My first question is to Ms Scarff. My boyfriend passed on to me an article from last weekend's Financial Times. It states: "As collections cannot be dissociated from the historic crime of colonialism, whether actually looted or not, there is just one appropriate course of action, the authors insist: restitution, the return of works to their rightful owners." This is very much an issue for our local networks as well. The repatriation of what can be identified as stolen treasures or loot can only begin with the national conversation and with the national display of those collections. Ms Scarff said that the National Museum of Ireland is a State repository.

Should we be a repository of collections associated with colonialism and which will always be the heritage of indigenous people around the world?

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