Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 14 Oct 1997

Vol. 481 No. 4

Written Answers. - National Archives.

Enda Kenny

Ceist:

218 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, the Gaeltacht and the Islands if she has satisfied herself with the resources available to the National Archives to deal with its remit; the reason it takes up to three months to receive a copy of a grant of schedule of assets in view of a case (details supplied); her views on whether such delays are appropriate; if such delays are common due to lack of sufficient resources; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16445/97]

Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands (Miss de Valera)

Funding for the various cultural institutions which come within the remit of my Department, including the National Archives, is allocated having regard to the overall financial resources available to the Department and the needs of the individual institutions. Historically many of these institutions have not had sufficient resources to play the central role they should in Irish society.

However, within these constraints, funding provided by my Department to the National Archives, excluding staff costs and own resources, has increased by almost 20 per cent since 1994.

With regard to the specific case referred to, the request for a copy of the grant and schedule of assets was processed by the National Archives in the usual way. However, because of restrictions on space available for the storage of such records at the Bishop Street premises, temporary storage arrangements — which are less than satisfactory — have had to be made in respect of certain documents not used by the public to any significant extent. Requests for such documents are dealt with in a manner that minimises disturbance to the records. It is expected that the schedule in question will be furnished by the National Archives to the applicant by the end of this month. I understand that such delays affect only a relatively small proportion of cases where documents are required for legal purposes.

It is expected that the particular restrictions on space giving rise to the need for the present storage arrangements will be overcome in the coming months. Thereafter, copies of documents in such cases will be supplied within two weeks of an order for them.