It is time for talks between Ireland and Britain about returning Irish artefacts to the Irish people.
That's according to Labour TD Seán Sherlock who is calling for the return of one of Ireland’s oldest religious artefacts, which is being held in an English museum.
The Mount Keefe Chalice dates from 1590 and is described as "one of the most important vessels of the Roman Catholic church".
It is currently on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
Deputy Sherlock told Lunchtime Live it is a mystery how it ended up there.
"By the crux of history, it ended up in the Victoria & Albert Museum in essence," he said.
"I was alerted to this story by Neil Michael... where there was some mystery as to how it ended up in the Victoria & Albert Museum having come from or being created in Ireland.
The interior of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, UK is seen in January 2022. Picture by: Uwe Deffner / Alamy Stock Photo"This is quite a famous museum where, it would appear, there are a lot of artefacts maybe arising from England's colonial past."
He said the chalice does appear to have been sold to the museum "and there are documents to that end."
'Need to have a conversation'
Deputy Sherlock said this opens up a wider debate.
"It did prompt me to think about the wider question of antiquities and artefacts that are Irish in nature - such as the Annals of Inisfallen, whereby that has ended up, for instance, in the Bodleian Library in Oxford," he said.
"How did these artefacts come to arrive at very old, established British institutions?
"Perhaps we now need to have a conversation around what the decolonisation of these artefacts should look like".
He said he has asked the Department of Foreign Affairs to look into the issue.
"I've asked for the Department of Foreign Affairs, or at a ministerial level, there should now be a bilateral engagement between Ireland and the United Kingdom in respect of maybe cataloguing a lot of these artefacts and items - such that we could begin a process of returning them back to Ireland".
History of the chalice
Deputy Sherlock said the chalice and its journey should be investigated.
It was thought to be in the possession of two priests who were murdered.
"What we need to do in respect of the chalice is to investigate further how it came to be sold," he said.
"It was thought that the chalice was buried in a place near Newmarket - that's the story as I understand it.
"If the church was the benefactor of the chalice - which you would assume that it was - how did it end up coming into the ownership of somebody else... and how then did it end up in the Victoria & Albert Museum?"
'Returning those artefacts'
Deputy Sherlock said historical artefacts have become an issue right around the world.
"If you had a process through which you could bring the various artefacts, or articles of contention such as this chalice - you devise a process around it where there is a bilateral engagement.
"You begin the discussion of, where possible, returning those artefacts back to the originators - in this case Ireland - and you at least have a process."
The Mount Keefe Chalice. Picture: © Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2022"It's about our history, it's about our heritage - there are probably thousands and thousands that are there which were acquired by hook or by crook by England under colonial rule.
"There is very much an international discussion taking place now around the need to decolonise a lot of these artefacts".
The chalice is inscribed in Latin ‘COK had me made in the Year of the Lord 1590’ and also gives prominence to the shamrock leaf.
This is said to be unusual, as the shamrock was not seen specifically as a national emblem in this period, but instead as an ancient religious symbol associated with St Patrick.
