Under the National Archives Act 1986, the obligation to transfer records to the National Archives rests with Departments and Offices. I understand that the records management across the public service has seen improvement in recent years and a number of Government Departments and Offices have themselves employed archivists to improve work on their own archives and those being transferred to the National Archives.
In the meantime, all 30-year old files worthy of permanent preservation created by the central registries in both the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have been accepted for deposit this year at the National Archives.
It is intended that once the necessary storage accommodation is secured in 2020, the remaining 30-year old transfers will be deposited. Once archival processing has been completed, the material will then be released for public inspection.
I have allocated over €20m for the provision of an Archival Repository at the National Archives building at Bishop Street, Dublin. Enabling works have commenced with the decant of a warehouse at the rear of the property. I hope that the main construction tender for this project will be published shortly. When complete, the project will provide a state-of-the-art modern archival storage facility. I look forward to making further announcements on this very important project shortly.
