asked the Taoiseach if he has any proposals to arrange for the transfer to this country from Britain of State papers relating to this country prior to 1922.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Pre-1922 State Papers.
1.
I have no specific proposals in mind. This could be considered by the Director of the National Archives following the passing of the National Archives legislation.
Is the Taoiseach aware if any survey has been made of the quantity of material relating to Ireland in the British archives and has there been any discussion between the archivists about the possible transfer to this country of some of the material originating in Ireland.
I do not think a comprehensive survey has been carried out, although of course some work has been done as people carry out their historical researches. I suspect the position is fairly complex in that probably there is material that is purely Irish in the British archives and also British material about Ireland and disentangling that could be quite a problem. There may well be material here which relates at least to Northern Ireland, if not to Britain. I suspect history has left us with rather a tangle.
Will the Taoiseach agree that the public records kept in London would contain, for instance, many detailed reports of the state of different counties here which would no longer be of any significant interest to British historians?
That could well be the case and I think it is one the Director of the National Archives could take up in due course. The immediate task facing us is the transfer to the National Archives within two years of all records of more than 30 years standing which are to be released by Departments. The timetable for that is tight and I think he will probably find himself concentrating on that task in the first instance. However, I hope he will also find it possible to examine the question of what type of material there may be in British hands that relates specifically to Ireland, which is of primary interest to us and which might possibly be returned. Perhaps that will come at a slightly later stage.