Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The key issue I have is on the cost side. Everyone agrees with the objective of this Bill, which is to ensure the widest public access possible. We are all in favour of that. Let us look at how it can be done.

Deputy Costello made a point about ensuring an academic talking about the social history of Ireland and who wishes, for example, to specifically talk about Ireland during the 1950s can access some of that material and about how easily that can be done. Do we need legislation to do that, and at what additional cost? While digitisation is wonderful in that it allows for so many other options, how can an individual access it?

The second question relates to intellectual property. Who owns a lot of the material in the archives? I am conscious of the point Mr. Ryan made about the independent production sector. Who actually owns everything that has been digitised?