Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 1 Feb 2001

Vol. 529 No. 3

Written Answers. - National Archives.

Austin Deasy

Question:

33 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will set up a unit in his Department to liaise with University College Dublin so that material which was collected by the Folklore Commission in the early years of the State can be copied and distributed to relevant public libraries and schools here. [30065/00]

Minister for Education and Science (Dr. Woods)

The collections of the Irish Folklore Commission were transferred to the Department of Irish Folklore at University College Dublin in 1971 and are the property of the university. The collections include two manuscript series, the main manuscripts collection amounting to more than 2,300 bound volumes and the schools' collection amounting to more than 1,100 bound volumes, together with 1,124 boxes of unbound material.

I understand that the Irish folklore collection is housed in the arts building in Belfield and is accessible to scholars and members of the general public each afternoon, Monday to Friday, except for the month of August. Major parts of the Department's collection are also available on microfilm at various third-level institutions in Ireland. I further understand that it would not be feasible to make the main manuscripts collection available to the various county libraries. However, microfilm copies of the locally relevant material from the schools' collection, which is accessible on a county basis, have been supplied to the local county libraries.

In the circumstances, I believe that the existing arrangements for accessing the collections of the Folklore Commission are satisfactory.