Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 5 Dec 1989

Vol. 394 No. 1

Written Answers. - Storage of Departmental Records.

21.

Mr. Quinn

asked the Taoiseach the number of Government Departments which have transferred documents to the National Archives to date; the nature of the documentation; where it is stored; the amount of this which has been catalogued; and the access which the public have to the documentation.

The Taoiseach

Under the National Archives Act, 1986, and the National Archives Act, 1986, Regulations, 1988, departmental records which are more than 30 years old are due to be transferred to the National Archives and made available for public inspection not later than 1 January, 1991.

Officers of principal officer grade have been appointed in all Departments to certify files for transfer to the National Archives.

Ten Departments and one office have already transferred quantities of their registered files to the National Archives. Additional files will be transferred by two of these Departments in the near future. Further information concerning the bulk of these transfers, the nature of the documentation, its location, the extent to which it has been catalogued and the extent of public access to it is given in a table which I propose to circulate in the Official Report.

Registered files of Departments already held by the National Archives or approved for transfer to the National Archives.

Department/ Office	Registered files already transferred to the National Archives which are:	Registered files which have been approved for transfer to the National Archives	Location in National Archives	Finding aids
(a) Available for public inspection	(b) Not yet available
Taoiseach	1922-54 and either mentioned in Cabinet minutes or otherwise files opened prior to 1960 and which were specifically sought by researchers	—	1922-60 other than those already transferred to the National Archives	Dublin Castle	Typed list, 1922-54; list in preparation
Finance	1922-23	—	1922-41	Four Courts	List in preparation
Agriculture and Food	—	1910-50	—	Four Courts	Manuscript list
Foreign Affairs	—	1922-44	—	Four Courts	List in preparation
Justice	—	1922-50	—	Four Courts	List in preparation
Public Works	—	1870-1935	—	Dominick St.	Original registers

Notes:

1. Departments and offices have been included in this table only if a substantial quantity of their main series of registered files for the period since 1922 has been transferred or approved for transfer.

2. In those cases in which files have been transferred but are not yet available for public inspection, the Departments are still examining the files in order to determine whether any of them should be covered by certificates under section 8 (4) of the Act withholding them from public inspection. In the case of the Department of Foreign Affairs, this work is at an advanced stage.

3. Records stored in Dominick Street will be made available for inspection at the Four Courts.