A Fianna Fáil TD has called for the return of Irish artefacts “plundered” from the British Museum that are currently in storage. 

There are thought to be over 1,000 Irish artefacts in the British Museum, the majority of which are not on public display. 

On Newstalk Breakfast, Clare TD Cathal Crowe said he believes many of them should be returned to Ireland. 

“If you'd had me on 10 years ago, I'd probably have said, ‘Send over the trucks, bring every item back’,” he explained. 

“I don't think it's that simple. What I would feel is that these items, they've been acquired through many means.

“Some have been bought, some have been acquired quite recently by the museum; some were plundered, some were got by very legitimate means many years ago. 

“At a minimum, I think these items should be on display.” 

The British Museum. Picture by: Alamy.com. 

Deputy Crowe added that while he understands that not all items can be displayed at the same time, he is concerned that there are “really precious Irish items that are not available for anyone to see”. 

He also warned some items were acquired in an “unethical” manner. 

“One example being just two years ago, the famous Irish giant, his name was Charles Byrne,” he said. 

“His skeleton was held by the British Museum and was repatriated just three years ago.

“An eight foot tall guy from, I think it was from [Ulster].” 

Deputy Byrne continued that many of the Irish items in the British Museum are “just locked away in archive boxes” and called for “some dialogue on this”.  

“Why not bring some of that back to Ireland where it belonged?” he suggested. 

“But also, I think we need to look at this through an ethical lens. 

“We need to look at how some of these items were acquired; some of them were acquired during plantations. 

“Some of them were brought back by British troops. Some were brought into Britain very legitimately.”

Main image: The Great Court of the British Museum. Picture by: Alamy.com.