Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 September 2021
454. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the measures taken to ensure that his text messages used for official business are filed as part of the records management process as required by the decision of the Information Commissioner (details supplied). [42597/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department is committed to a robust records management process and to the fulfilment of its obligations under the 1986 National Archives Act. As required by this Act, all records made or received in the course of the official business of the Department that are not subject to a disposal certificate are retained and then transferred to the National Archives at the 30 year mark, or the 20 year mark in the specific case of records relating to Northern Ireland. My Department has consistently completed the largest transfer of all Government Departments since the first intake of records in 1990.
The ICT revolution and new technologies over the last 35 years have ushered in transformation in the operations of business and Government, and records keeping policies internationally are evolving to address the substantial challenges. In Ireland, our National Archives Act is clear that it is the content and context of information, and not its format, that determines whether it is a record. Digital communications becoming the norm for Government work presents real practical difficulties for all Government Departments in terms of the retention, filing and storage of communications that could be of sufficient evidential value to constitute records.
There is also the important challenge of reconciling the various obligations of cybersecurity, Freedom of Information and Data Protection Acts. The latter Act rightly obliges us to retain no records containing personal data beyond the time required by their limited, lawful purpose.
My Department is currently undergoing a programme of change similar to other Departments as we are in the process of transforming records management practices and working to introduce a new modern system to meet the demands of our current work practices. These efforts are led by the OGCIO (Office of the Government Chief Information Officer) and include the roll-out of eDocs Records and Document Management platform. My Department will commence its migration to the eDocs platform next year.
In preparation for this, my Department initiated a comprehensive Records Management Reform Project in 2019. This will include an updated Retention Policy and Schedule based on the Guidelines issued by the National Archives in January of this year. It will also look at technical solutions for the efficient transfer and retention of records formed on new electronic technologies. We will incorporate these solutions and other innovations that came from our management response to the Covid-19 pandemic in our future ways of working.
