Heritage Projects Dail Éireann — 2026-05-07 ============================================================ Aengus Ó Snodaigh (SF), Dublin South-Central 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. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-07/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:46+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-07