Trinity to return human remains to Inishbofin

Posted on: 22 February 2023

Trinity College Dublin is to return human remains to the island of Inishbofin, from where they were taken without the community’s consent more than a century ago. 

The decision was approved today [22 February 2023] by the Board of the University following a period of research, analysis and public consultation about the future of the remains overseen by the Trinity Legacies Review Working Group. 

Further engagement will now take place with the Inishbofin community to identify the appropriate way of returning the remains.   

Trinity Provost Dr Linda Doyle said:  “I am sorry for the upset that was caused by our retaining of these remains and I thank the Inishbofin community for their advocacy and engagement with us on this issue.

We will now work with the community to ensure that the remains are returned in a respectful manner and in accordance with the community’s wishes.

“I want to thank everyone who engaged with the process that we have put in place to address  issues of this nature. I am glad that we have made an evidence-based decision and that our process allowed all points of view to be heard.”

The Senior Dean and Chair of Trinity Legacies Review Working Group Prof. Eoin O’Sullivan said:  “The evidence-based process Trinity has engaged in has, we believe, proved its worth. The Trinity Legacies Review Working Group will continue to engage with Trinity’s legacy issues on a case-by-case basis.” 

Background: 

In July 1890 ethnologist Alfred Cort Haddon and student Andrew Francis Dixon (subsequently Trinity’s Professor of Anatomy), took partial skeletal remains of 13 people from St Colman’s monastery in Inishbofin. As is clearly documented in Haddon’s diary of the time, they did not seek the community’s consent. 

Since then, the remains have been stored in Trinity College Dublin. The context for this was a contemporary interest in fields including craniometry (measurement of the cranium) and anthropometry (scientific measurement of individuals). 

The Inishbofin remains are the first case to be considered by Trinity’s Legacies Review Working Group whose role is to collate and document evidence on legacy issues and whose terms of reference can be read here.  

Trinity’s Legacies Review Working Group, comprising Trinity students, professional staff, academic staff as well as external members, commissioned an evidence-based review of the issues around the crania late last year. The Working Paper by Dr Mobeen Hussain, Dr Ciaran O’Neill and Dr Patrick Walsh from the Department of History, School of Histories and Humanities, was published on 23 November 2022. 

At this time Trinity also invited evidence-based submissions from the public on the future of the human remains from Inishbofin. It received 13 submissions, including a submission from the vast majority of the Inishbofin islanders. To read all public submissions on the issue, see here. 

The National Museum of Ireland (NMI) was consulted on the matter. The NMI in its statutory role, determined it did not have a specific jurisdiction on this case, or foresee any legal impediments to reburial under the NMI’s role as outlined in the National Monuments Act 1930 to 2014. It clarified that as the crania was removed in 1890, their removal pre-dates the relevant legislation (National Monuments Act, 1930) and therefore the question of State ownership does not arise. 

ENDS 

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