Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 July 2021
3369. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the progress made to date regarding the digitisation of Land Commission records in the context of the development of key search aids; and if he has engaged an expert third-party for this project outside of the element of the records that were destroyed in the public records office. [39331/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am advised by my officials that the project to digitise the search indices to the Irish Land Commission records is proceeding but at a slower pace than originally anticipated. Records Branch is a small unit within my Department and the necessity of complying with public health advice relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in the last 17 months has impacted on progress.
An internal scoping exercise to identify the items which will need to be digitised has been carried out and a guide to the items in question is being prepared which will in due course be utilised as part of any procurement process that may be required.
Preliminary analysis has identified in excess of 200 handwritten volumes, as well as various loose-leaf collections, card indices and maps which are regularly accessed by my staff when searching for documents and which will need to be preserved in the first instance.
Additionally, my officials are continuing their enquiries with other Government Departments and Offices who have carried out similar projects to learn from their experiences, so that the project is managed as effectively and economically as possible.
