27. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the shared island unit in his Department. [14897/26]

Sentiment score: 0.11

The shared island unit has been a major success under the Taoiseach's stewardship. A lot of money, co-operation and good initiatives have taken place. I wish to raise an issue that I hope the Taoiseach will discuss with his counterparts at some point. At the moment, there are 6,445 Irish artefacts held in the British Museum. I know the Taoiseach is very interested in history, as am I. I would not have a major problem if those items were on display. History is a global commodity. I would like to think if I was in London with my kids that they could go into the British Museum and see Irish artefacts. Likewise, we should be able to see arteacts from all over the world. However, most of these are held in archive boxes never to be seen. Some of them at least could be repatriated to Ireland. There could be maybe some dialogue on that. Some of them could be brought to local museums. Some of them have been bought, acquired or looted over the years. It would be good to have dialogue at this point. The Egyptian Government has ongoing dialogue with the British Museum about the Rosetta Stone. I would love to see some dialogue about some of these artefacts. We cannot paint them all with the one brush. From an Irish perspective, I would like some artefacts to be seen globably.

Sentiment score: 0.24