Vol. 477 No. 2
15 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht if he has satisfied himself there is sufficient space in the National Archives to enable it to fulfil its statutory requirements and obligations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7515/97]
18 Ms Keogh asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht the current position in relation to the upgrading of the National Archives. [8849/97]
32 Mr. M. McDowell asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht the current position in relation to the upgrading of the National Archives. [8853/97]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 15, 18 and 32 together.
The National Archives has accommodation needs both short-term and long-term which are in the process of being addressed.
The headquarters of the National Archives is located in premises at Bishop Street in Dublin, but at present not all of those premises is available to it. The National Archives also still occupies the record repository of the former Public Record Office at the Four Courts in Dublin. All the storage space currently available to the National Archives in those two buildings is fully occupied.
Under section 8(1) of the National Archives Act, 1986, Departments of State are obliged to transfer their departmental records to the National Archives to be made available for public inspection when they are 30 years old, unless exempt under other sections of the Act. Due to shortage of space, the National Archives was unable to accept most of the records for 1966 which were due for transfer by Government Departments in 1966. It is also at present unable to accept the backlog of older records which are overdue for transfer by the Departments of Education and Finance.
The overall premises at Bishop Street are in principle sufficient to meet the storage requirements of the National Archives until well into the next century. There are two needs to be addressed, however, before this position is achieved in practice. The first and more immediate need is to acquire the space available on floor 1 in the front block of the existing premises which is at present occupied by a section of the Government Supplies Agency which is part of the Office of Public Works and, accordingly, the responsibility of the Minister for Finance. I understand the arrangements being made by the Office of Public Works to allow the vacation of this area have taken longer than envisaged but that urgent attention is being given to the matter to finalise the situation and facilitate its fitting out for National Archives purposes so that it may take in all overdue records including those up to 1967. The second issue relates to proposals for dealing with the longer term accommodation and storage needs of the National Archives. In this regard the warehouse to the rear of the present building has been identified as offering the optimum solution.
The immediate priority in this regard is the carrying out of planning and preparatory work for this adaptation. It has been agreed that such adaptation should be undertaken and, in this context, the Minister for Finance announced in the recent budget that the necessary planning and preparatory work for this project will be undertaken by the Office of Public Works in 1997.
On the basis of a feasibility study carried out for the Office of Public Works a total of four options were considered for meeting the future needs of the archives. The option which would supply the maximum space to the institution has been costed provisionally as being of the order of £13 million at current prices. The various options are currently the subject of discussions between my Department and the Department of Finance.
Will the Minister outline whether the Government feels there is a need to review the legislation on the National Archives which is now ten years old? Dr. Garret FitzGerald, a former leader of the Minister's party, warned of the crisis which has arisen with regard to the National Archives and the need for funding to deal with the matter.
Will the Minister clarify how the Freedom of Information Bill, 1996, when enacted, and the 30 year rule will affect institutions such as the National Archives?
As far as the National Archives Act, 1986 is concerned, there is no specific statutory requirement on the National Archives to provide accommodation for storing archives. Section 8 requires Departments to transfer relevant records which are over 30 years old, and that is Deputy de Valera's point. Perhaps this matter can be examined to see how the Act can be amended.
As it stands, the Minister may, with the agreement of the director of archives, direct that the transfer of records is not proceeded with until he is satisfied that arrangements for such a transfer are adequate. The provision meets some of the problems to which the Deputy refers. Whether the Minister requires further powers should be examined also.
I am unable to answer the Deputy's question about the Freedom of Information Bill, 1996. I presume that when that Bill was considered the problems of the National Archives were also dealt with.
Perhaps the Minister of State would write to me on the last question.
I had a question on the same topic. Will the Minister accept that the Government has made poor provision for storing and availability of the national archives despite all the moneys available to it? The archives are a quintessentially important part of our heritage. What is the time frame for making proper provision for, first, storage which is the most important matter and, second, ensuring that archival material is made available for research and other purposes on time and in a manner which makes it accessible to people who want to use archival material? When will proper provision be made for the National Archives at Bishop's Street?
The Minister for Finance made provision in this year's budget for preparatory work for the National Archive project and that is a first step. It is ten years since that Act was introduced and there has been inactivity since then. At least something is under way now.
A feasibility study is being carried out by the Office of Public Works and a total of four options were considered. The various options are being discussed by the Department and the Department of Finance and we await the outcome.
When is the consultation process likely to be completed? When is the work on the extension and refurbishment of premises likely to commence?
The Office of Public Works has been directed to have all preparatory work completed in 1997 so I am sure there will be a resolution of this matter late this year or early in 1998.
