Ms Niamh Ní Charra:

A chairde, I am speaking today as chair of the Archives and Records Association, Ireland, also known as ARA Ireland, the principal professional body for archivists, archive conservators and records managers representing members across the island. We are delighted to have been invited and to be given the opportunity to share our expertise, which is incredibly relevant to today’s topic.

First, I commend Deputy Costello on the work that has gone into the drafting of this Bill, and getting it to this stage. I also note the concerns raised during the Dáil debate and the earlier session. Essentially, ARA Ireland fully supports the introduction of this legislation, which will help process, preserve and provide access to an important section of our heritage. However, if it is to

be successful, a number of points need to be considered. The first is resourcing. The work being discussed today does not simply include the digitisation of material and making it available. The

material needs to be first appraised and catalogued so intellectual control is maintained, the material protected and informed decisions on selection and access made. Long-term preservation of digitised and born-digital material also needs to take place. I remind the committee that digitisation is not digital preservation; they are two different things. This is all extremely resource-heavy and at its core is the work of professional archivists. Serious investment is required to ensure these archivists are employed and have the support and necessary resources to guarantee success. Our sector is a seriously underfunded, undervalued and often undermined. I thank Deputy Costello for making this point earlier as well.

The second point is on sustainable resourcing. Providing resources is not enough. It needs to be done in a sustainable manner. Resourcing should be regular, realistic and ring-fenced. Public bodies such as RTÉ should not have to rely on BAI, ad hoc projects should not be the norm nor should others in the sector be in competition with a publicly-funded body for the same pot.

Third, legislation needs to be enacted in good faith. Our sector is already suffering from outdated legislation in the form of the National Archives Act 1986, with 150 bodies and counting not covered and therefore not obliged to transfer material to the National Archives. We have 2001 legislation that promised the employment of an archivist in every local authority, and more than two decades later we are only two thirds of the way there. By contrast it took only two years for every local authority to hire a biodiversity officer. Our sector is crying out for records management legislation to be brought in to ensure processes are embedded in everyday activities today so that in an increasingly digital-only age, our archives of the future are preserved.

Many of the issues raised on Second Stage are surmountable, particularly with the hiring of professional archivists whose expertise includes who to correctly deal with GDPR, copyright, freedom of information and sensitive material, but these archivists need to be hired and our expertise recognised, valued and given a central role. We recommend that sufficient resourcing and structures be provided before any legislation commences but that commencement is not delayed indefinitely. The proposed legislation can certainly be improved and we are here to help in that work. However, ARA Ireland sees no reason for this legislation not to be considered for next Stage, and fully support it going forward.