Diarmuid Wilson (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will not be mentioning any other Ministers' names. I thank the Minister and his officials for coming here to talk to us.

Is the Minister familiar with section 7 of the National Archives Act 1986? It states:

Subject to the provisions of sections 19(3) and 19(4), Departmental records shall, unless they are transferred to the National Archives in accordance with section 8 or are disposed of undersubsection (5), be retained and preserved in the Department of State in which they were made or are held, and shall not in any case be disposed off except in accordance withsubsection (5); provided that, where more than one copy of such a record exists, the retention and preservation of the original or, if the original is no longer available, of an accurate and complete copy thereof shall suffice.

How does the Minister’s practice of regularly deleting text messages involving Government business, which form records of his ministerial activities, not breach this Act? Where is there more than one copy of his texts to Katherine Zappone in the documents released yesterday afternoon? Why does there appear to be no copy or record of his responses or exchanges? Is he still deleting texts to do with Government business conducted on his phone? That is the first group of questions.