The Blue Shield aims to protect cultural and heritage sites from attack in times of armed conflict or civil disturbance, and from natural disasters. It also promotes awareness of the importance of preserving heritage sites and their contents in peacetime and during conflict. The basis for the Blue Shield is the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property and its additional first and second protocols. The Blue Shield network, often referred to as the cultural equivalent of the Red Cross, was formed in response to the changes in international law and today works globally to protect cultural heritage in emergency situations. It is a non-governmental, non-profit, international organisation committed to the protection of heritage across the world.
The Irish National Committee of Blue Shield (INCBS)
The Irish National Committee of the Blue Shield (INCBS) was established in September 2012 following formal accreditation from the international governing body Blue Shield. The INCBS consists of two representatives from each of the following nominating bodies:
- International Council of Archives (ICA)
- International Council of Museums (ICOM)
- International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)
- International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)
The committee also has the mandate to co-opt other members, who have an active role in the delivery of the mission of Blue Shield. Members serve a maximum of four years and are eligible for reappointment for a further term of four years.
The current committee comprises of:
- Zoë Reid (Chair)
- ICOMOS Ireland – Fergus McCormick
- IFLA – Elizabethanne Boran (Secretary)
- ICOM Ireland – Jessica Baldwin, Susie Bioletti
- CPP/ World Heritage Expert- Patrizia La Piscopia
- Members – Gretchen Allen, Andrew Megaw, Barbara McCormack
Please see brief bios listed at the end of this page;
One of the major achievements of the Committee has been the promotion of the UNESCO 1954 Hague Convention and its additional 2nd Protocol, which was finally ratified by the Government of Ireland in August 2018.
Preamble to 1954 Hague Convention
Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict
History of The Blue Shield Network
The Blue Shield network, often referred to as the cultural equivalent of the Red Cross, was formed in response to the changes in international law and today works globally to protect cultural heritage in emergency situations. It is a non-governmental, non-profit, international organisation committed to the protection of heritage across the world. This includes museums, monuments, archaeological sites, archives, libraries and audio-visual material, and significant natural areas, as well as intangible heritage.
The Irish National Committee of Blue Shield
The Irish National Committee of the Blue Shield (INCBS) was established in September 2012 following formal accreditation/ratification from the international Blue Shield governing body
Since formation, the INCBS has successfully achieved one of its key objectives, when the Government of Ireland finally ratified the UNESCO 1954 Hague Convention and its additional 2nd Protocol in August 2018.
Key objectives of the INCBS are:
- To act as a unifying voice for engaging government and funders to understand and accept their responsibilities for protecting long-term access to the cultural heritage.
- To develop plans to enable the INCBS to contribute to national and international efforts to protect the cultural heritage in times of war and natural disasters by means of organising voluntary workers where possible, by programmes of education, and training.
Previous Committees 2012-2020
The Irish committee are indebted to the work of previous committee members:
2012-2018
Dr Michael Ryan, Siobhan Fitzpatrick, Colette O’Flaherty, Frances Magee and Helen Hewson
2012-2020
Lar Joye, Cathy Daly, Deirdre McDermott and Kasandra O’Connell for their hard work to ensure that the ratification of the UNESCO 1954 Hague Convention was achieved in 2018.
A special note of acknowledgement should go to Lar Joye who as Chair (2014-2020) of the committee was unfailing in his drive and dedication.
Zoë Reid is an accredited conservator who established the Conservation Department at the National Archives of Ireland in 2002. She has overseen the long-term preservation of the national collection and ensured secure public access to the archives. Over the past 20 years, her work has been widely published in conservation journals, and she has presented at international conferences. In 2022, she joined the senior management team as Keeper of Manuscripts, overseeing Public Services and Collection Care. Safeguarding the long-term preservation of the national collection and ensuring safe public access to the archives are her principal goals.
Over the past 25 years, she has provided courses in collection care, disaster management, and collections recovery. She has edited newsletters and journals, organized training events and conferences in Ireland, and published and presented her work at conferences in Ireland, the UK, Europe, and the United States.
Additionally, Zoë was a member of the council for The International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) (2015-2023). She joined the Irish National Committee for Blue Shield (INCBS) in 2018 and has served as its Chair since January 2020.
These projects highlight Zoë’s significant contributions to preserving and presenting Ireland’s historical records.
Commandant Daniel Ayiotis is the Officer-in-Charge of the Military Archives, based at Cathal Brugha Barracks, Rathmines, Dublin. He joined the Army as a Cadet in 2002 and was commissioned to the 27th Infantry Battalion, based between Dundalk and Monaghan, in 2004. During this time he served in several locations and appointments at home and abroad including Lebanon and Kosovo. Daniel joined the Military Archives in 2015 as a Staff Officer and undertook the MA in Archives and Records Management in UCD that same year. His dissertation was on ‘The Developing Archival Heritage of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in the Republic of Ireland’, which is reflective of his general areas of interest within the archival research and practice. In 2017 he was appointed Officer-in-Charge of the Military Archives. Daniel joined the Committee as an ICA representative in 2018.
Jessica Baldwin is a Senior Conservator at the National Archives Ireland with thirty years’ experience. She trained and worked in London before moving to Ireland in 1995 and working for eight years as the paper conservator at Trinity College Library, Dublin. In 2003, she was appointed as the Chester Beatty’s first full-time conservator tasked with establishing the Conservation Department, which has become an integral and vital part of the museum. In 2014 she joined the senior management team as Head of Collections and Conservation, responsible for the strategic management of the Collections, including exhibitions, education, conservation, cataloguing and research. Jessica co-ordinated the museum’s successful application for accreditation through the Museum Standards Programme in Ireland (MSPI) in 2014 and maintenance in 2018.
A three-year career break in 2019 allowed her to successfully complete the MA in Museum Practice and Management at Ulster University and work as a project conservator at the National Archives on the collections salvaged from the Public Record Office following its destruction in 1922. Jessica is an accredited member of the Institute of Conservator-Restorers in Ireland (ICRI) and has been an active member of the Board, taking on a range of roles including Chair. She is currently Treasurer of the Irish Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM). Jessica joined the Committee as an ICOM representative in 2020.
Dr Elizabethanne Boran is the Librarian of the Edward Worth Library, Dublin. She is the editor of the three-volume Correspondence of James Ussher, 1600-1656, published by the Irish Manuscripts Commission in 2015, and, in addition, she has written on the history of early modern science, book-collecting, libraries, and more generally, the seventeenth-century history of ideas and universities. She is the Irish member of the International Commission for the History of Universities and a member of the committee of the Rare Books Group of the Library Association of Ireland. Elizabethanne joined the Committee as an IFLA representative in 2019 and is currently Secretary.
Patrizia La Piscopia is a researcher, lecturer and field archaeologist, with experience on commercial and research excavations in Europe and further afield.
She works in the World Heritage Unit at the National Monuments Service and occasionally lectures on UCD’s post-graduate programme in World Heritage management and Conservation. She is a member of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) since 2011. In the past she collaborated with The International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), and published extensively in both Irish and International journals. Patrizia joined the Committee as a co-opted member in 2018.
Fergus McCormick is a Senior Conservation Architect working in the Monuments Section of the Office of Public Works in Dublin. Fergus is responsible for the repair and maintenance of National Monuments in state care in the Killarney in Southern Ireland. His responsibilities include the management of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Sceilg Mhichíl in County Kerry. He has many years of experience working on historic buildings in Ireland, England and Germany. Fergus is currently an OPW representative on the Advisory Group for the Climate Change Adaptation Plan for the Built and Archaeological Heritage Sector chaired by the Department of Culture Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Fergus joined the Committee as an ICOMOS representative in 2019
Andrew Megaw has been the Head of Conservation at the National Library of Ireland since July 2023. In this role, he leads, directs and manages the Library’s preservation programmes and projects.
Prior to this, Andrew has worked as a rare book conservator, since completing an MA in Conservation at Camberwell College of Arts, London in 1997.
From 2004 to June 2023, he worked as Senior Conservator of Books at Trinity College Dublin. In this position, he worked specifically on rare books and bound manuscripts from the Library Collections.
In addition, he annually trained and managed teams of preservation assistants who worked on a variety of projects throughout the Old Library. Since these preservation projects began in 2004, approximately 100,000 Long Room books have been treated.
Andrew frequently provides conservation and preservation advice to artists and members of the public. He provides conservation student supervision and gives training to library staff.
He was a visiting conservator on three occasions at St. Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai, at the invitation of the St. Catherine’s Foundation. His personal area of research is 19th century photographically illustrated books.
Cécile Chemin is Senior Archivist in the Military Archives and Director of the Military Service Pensions Archive based at Cathal Brugha Barracks, Rathmines, Dublin. She majored in historic linguistics at University Lumière Lyon II, France (Licence – English and American Literature and Language) and completed both a Higher Diploma (2005) and a Master’s degree (2010) in Archives and Records Management at University College Dublin. Working as a professional archivist since 2005, first in UCD, later in the Department of Health (AIRR project – Access to Institutional and Related Records), she moved to Local Government in 2006, as archivist and record manager for Wicklow, Kildare and Meath County Councils. She joined the Military Archives in 2008.
She developed a strong interest for the safeguarding of archives during natural disasters, having herself dealt with emergency situations when working as a county council archivist. This interest deepened following the first Cultural Property Protection course held in Ireland, especially in considering CPP as a tool for peacekeeping in a military context.
Cécile is a long-time member of the Archives and Records Association (UK and Ireland) and has taken on a range of roles, including Irish representative, treasurer and Chair. Her areas of interest include the intersection between archives and climate change, human rights, social justice, and social accountability. Cécile joined the Committee as an ICA representative in 2024.
Gretchen Allen is a Senior Book and Paper Conservator at the National Archives of Ireland. She has previously held conservation roles with Maynooth University and Cambridge
University Library. Throughout her career she has been responsible for interventive conservation treatments, preventive collection care work on environmental monitoring and pest management, bespoke enclosure making, exhibitions, outreach, and disaster management.
Gretchen undertook her BA in Art Conservation at Scripps College, graduating in 2014. Following that, she completed her MA in Book Conservation at Camberwell College of Arts (University of Arts, London) in 2016. Her supplemental training includes a Postgraduate Certification (PGCert) in Antiquities Trafficking and Art Crime obtained through the University of Glasgow in 2019. Her academic work focuses on the role of the conservator in mitigating the damage done by the criminal elements of the art market.
Gretchen is a member of the Archives and Records Association (ARA) and the Institute for Conservator/Restorers in Ireland (ICRI). She has been a member of the Irish National Committee of the Blue Shield since 2023.
Barbara McCormack is the Librarian of the Royal Irish Academy, where she is responsible for the strategic direction of the Library and Archive, the information services provided by the Library, and the curation of the world’s largest collection of manuscripts in the Irish language, as well as numerous other manuscript and archival collections, books and collections in other formats. She previously worked as Special Collections Librarian at Maynooth University Library where she had responsibility for the early printed books, manuscripts and archives of St Patrick’s College Maynooth and Maynooth University. She has also worked at the British Library and Trinity College Library, Dublin, and has published in the areas of book collecting in Ireland and Britain, and Irish religious history.
Susie Bioletti is the former Keeper of Preservation & Conservation at Trinity College Library from 2002 to 2023, now retired. Prior to this she worked for the National Gallery of Australia, Newcastle Polytechnic, UK (now the University of Northumbria), and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Susie is a Fellow of the International Institute for Conservation, and current board member of the Institute of Conservator-Restorers in Ireland (ICRI). She is an ICOM Ireland representative on the Irish National Committee of the Blue Shield (INCBS).
Susie was instrumental in bringing the Old Library, Trinity College Dublin through Museums Accreditation, and is on the steering committee for the Old Library Redevelopment Programme as Chair of the environmental group.
Susie has published and lectured widely on topics such as art conservation, technical art history, environmental studies, and pigments.