asked the Taoiseach if he proposes to take any action to ensure that the spirit, if not the provisions, of the National Archives Act, 1986, are extended to local authorities; whether the National Archives have been in contact with local authorities on the question of the safeguarding of archives in local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Safeguarding of Archives.
The National Archives Act includes provisions whereby local authorities may request the Taoiseach to declare their records to be departmental records, and whereby appropriate local institutions could be approved as places of deposit for such records. I have not received any such requests which would, of course, be considered sympathetically.
In recent debates in the Seanad on the Local Government Bill, the Minister for the Environment indicated that he would take up with the National Archives the question of the application of the National Archives Act to local authority records. The director of the National Archives is now considering, in conjunction with officers of my Department and the Department of the Environment, the measures which might be taken to ensure the better preservation of local authority records.
One of the statutory functions of the director of the National Archives is the giving of advice to local authorities and other public service organisations on the management, preservation and reproduction of records under their control. Accordingly, the director has prepared a circular entitled "The National Archives Act and the Records of Local and Regional Public Bodies" and this has been circulated to local authorities. The director of the National Archives is also organising a seminar later this year for county secretaries on the subject of local authority archives.
I thank the Taoiseach for his reply and I would ask him if he is indicating that if a local authority make a formal request to him or to his Department to have their records designated as departmental records that he would accede positively to that request?
What I said in my reply was that it would be considered sympathetically.
I know the Taoiseach said that, Sir. I am now asking if the Taoiseach would accede positively to a request?
I could not do that in advance. I would probably have to consult the director and consider the situation but I do not see that there would be any great difficulty about it.
On the assumption that he would like to accede positively may I ask the Taoiseach if such an accession implies the allocation of extra resources?
No, I do not think so.
Deputy John Bruton is offering.
Perhaps Deputy Bruton will allow me to conclude. Finally, may I ask the Taoiseach if he will encourage local authorities, in a manner that he has indicated already, to anticipate that they will have responsibility for their archives? If the local library structure got extra resources perhaps that could be the repository for such archives.
Yes, I think that would be a better way of proceeding. I have outlined proposals whereby the director of the National Archives can co-operate with local authorities in making sure they look after their own records.
What would be the consequence of the accession by the director to a local authority request to have that local authority's papers designated as departmental archives? What would it mean in legal and financial terms? Further, may I ask the Taoiseach if there are any people employed by local authorities who are trained in archival matters who would be able to make the necessary selection as to which documents should be preserved and which destroyed in the event that there was a proposal to establish a local archive?
First of all, under the statute, the application would have to be to the Taoiseach. What would happen is that if the Taoiseach declared, under the statute, that they were departmental records then, in all probability, he would also declare that some local place must be the archival record place. In other words, it would be likely that they would be preserved at local level. On the question of staff, I would imagine that with the assistance of the director of National Archives most librarians would be in a position to do the work.
Deputy Connor was offering. A brief question, please.
Would the Taoiseach not agree in relation to the proposal for regional councils that we should have regional archivists to look after the archives in each of the regions given that some of these archives go back to the early part of the 19th century? Many of them have been destroyed and many are now in an advanced state of deterioration.
We are talking here about public records. The national position is that all Government Department records must go into the National Archives. What we are talking about in this question is how we should be looking at local authority records. My own view would be that the best way to proceed would be for local authorities to provide for the archival preservation of their own records.
Deputy J. Bruton rose.
I thought we could get on to another question. A final question from Deputy Bruton.
Is the Taoiseach satisfied that it is feasible to contemplate having, at local level, rooms with the appropriate temperature and moisture control and so forth to ensure that old papers do not deteriorate?
Clearly, we are having an extension of this question.
All that would be involved.