Vol. 561 No. 3
84 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason the records of the Land Commission from 1881 up to 1972 are not open to study by scholars and others; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4180/03]
The records of the former Land Commission are retained in the records branch of my Department, which is located in the National Archives building in Bishop Street. These records have not been formally handed over to the National Archives as they contain title documentation of all land acquired by the former Commission for distribution under the Land Purchase Acts. These records are referred to on a daily basis by my staff who deal with ongoing queries relating to current and past transactions involving the former Land Commission. Access to this documentation is governed by various provisions of the Land Acts, in particular Statutory Instrument No. 230 of 1964.
Records branch operates a public counter where supervised research into title documentation is available and copy documents are provided on payment of the appropriate fee as set out in Statutory Instrument No. 253 of 1984. Limited general research is available on application to the examiner of titles in my Department.
