Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 17 Feb 1998

Vol. 487 No. 3

Written Answers. - Valuation Office Records.

John Perry

Question:

174 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Finance the procedures, if any, which are in place in his Department to preserve records, currently in the possession of the Valuation Office, which are not being taken into the care of the National Archive on the imminent relocation of the Valuation Office from Ely Place to the Irish Life Abbey Centre; if he will consider the transfer of this material into local county libraries for historical research and reference purposes; if he will request the Valuation Commissioners to issue instructions that no records in their possession are destroyed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3836/98]

Minister for Finance (Mr. McCreevy)

The Valuation Office will relocate from its existing premises at Ely Place to new premises in the Irish Life Centre, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin, in early March 1998.

The Valuation Office is providing accommodation for archive storage and reading facilities at the Irish Life Centre. This accommodation will comply with standards and conditions prescribed by the National Archives with regard to controlled atmosphere, lighting and security. The retrieval, handling and reading of material will be regulated to accord with National Archives specifications. Material requiring temporary storage will be held in a custom built facility approved by the National Archives to meet archive storage requirements.

The National Archives Act, 1986, requires that, with limited exceptions, all departmental records more than 30 years old must be transferred to the National Archives where they will be made available for inspection by the public. Therefore, transfer of the material to local authority libraries is not possible.

In accordance with the provisions of the National Archives Act, only those records which are subject to a disposal authorisation issued by the National Archives are destroyed.

To allow the removal of existing records to the new accommodation, the Records Branch in the Valuation Office will close for a period and will not reopen until the end of March 1998. An enhanced service will then be available to the public at the Irish Life Centre.