Vol. 497 No. 1
75 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the policy proposals, if any, he has to foster support, facilitate and encourage the development of local authority archival services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20824/98]
76 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the number of local authorities which have made provision for archival services under section 65 of the Local Government Act, 1994 [20825/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 75 and 76 together.
Under section 65 of the Local Government Act, 1994, it is a function of local authorities to make proper arrangements for the management, custody, care and conservation of their records and archives, and to provide public access to their archives. In order to support and encourage local authorities my Department, with the assistance of the National Archives, put in place a strategy for the development of archives services. The measures introduced on foot of this strategy include the following: (a) a survey of the records and archives held by local authorities was conducted in 1995 by the National Archives on behalf of my Department; (b) a detailed survey result together with guidelines on the development of the local authority archives service was published on foot of the survey; (c) a subsidy scheme was established whereby local authorities may recoup 50 per cent of the salary of an archivist employed by them provided the archivist is employed on a regional basis; (d) local authorities may also qualify for up to 50 per cent subsidy in respect of leasing accommodation for the purposes of processing archives; and (e) archives storage facilities have been funded as part of some library projects.
Prior to these measures, local authorities had employed only four archivists. However, there are now nine archivists covering 15 local authorities throughout the country, and it is proposed to appoint two further archivists covering four or more local authorities in due course. In addition, my Department has provided funding for archive accommodation to two local authorities, and has proposals on hands from four others. I will continue to promote these measures, and to keep the terms of the scheme under review, where appropriate.
