asked the Minister for Justice whether he will make inquiry if any list has been preserved of the persons who made extracts of papers formerly stored in the Record Office; and, if so, whether any steps are being taken to communicate with such persons, with a view to obtaining copies of the extracts in their possession.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Record Office Papers.
The names of persons who made extracts from documents formerly in the Record Office for genealogical or historical purposes are preserved in registers which commence in 1878. The registers do not give addresses, but a small number are known where the original permits still exist. A number of these inquirers have presented to the Office copies and abstracts made by them from the Records and these notes will probably be of interest to future inquirers. An appeal is made in the fifty-fifth Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Records for further similar donations and, from time to time, requests are sent to individuals who are believed to be in possession of such extracts.
A very much more important class of copies of Records are the certified copies, many thousands of which were issued annually by the Office. These were principally issued to solicitors and a very large number must still be in existence. Strong appeals were made, through the Press and through the Incorporated Law Society, to solicitors in possession of such copies to return them to the Record Office, and a promise was given that an official copy of every such document would be given, if required, free of charge to the donor. The result of the appeals have been somewhat disappointing. Some firms have generously presented large numbers of very valuable documents to the Record Office, officially certified copies of original probates, etc. If all solicitors had the public spirit to do this, the more modern Records which were in the Record Office could almost be reconstituted on certain sides. I understand that the Irish Manuscripts Commission proposes to issue an appeal to each solicitor individually concerning documents which may be of historical interest, and I hope that as a result of this appeal more solicitors may be induced to deposit documents in the Public Record Office.
Some time ago the Deputy Keeper addressed a communication to the rector of each parish whose Registers were in the Record Office and were not salved, setting out the Registers destroyed and inquiring whether any copies of them had been preserved. Transcripts had been made in a number of cases, and some clergymen have very kindly lent their duplicate Registers to enable copies of them to be taken by the Record Office.
May I just say how much I am obliged for the full information the Minister has given?