Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, and the Minister, Deputy Martin, and her officials in the Department for the update. I wish the advisory committee well, including Lynn Scarff, the director of the National Museum of Ireland, and Virginia Teehan, the chief executive of the Heritage Council, and all of the folks on the advisory committee. I wish them all the best. It is a complex issue; of that there is no doubt. It is heartening to see the Department place an emphasis on public awareness around these issues. I almost missed the establishment of the advisory committee despite having an interest, including politically, in this over the years so I hope that public awareness can be increased. No objects should be repatriated without being displayed publicly in Ireland first and the public awareness increased about that. I acknowledge the advisory committee will look at the institutions but for individuals and citizens such as Isabella Walsh, I hope the remit might include their situations as well and give advice to individual citizens on returning objects that have questionable provenance.