John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

In 1922, the departing British authorities removed considerable quantities of records from the Chief Secretary's Office in Dublin Castle to the Irish Office in London. While some of these records dated back to the mid-19th century, it is believed that most were concerned with the early 20th century. Unfortunately, it is understood that a large portion of the transferred records were destroyed as a health risk in the mid-1930s following the flooding of the basement in which they were held. Other records, including the Fenian papers, were returned to the State Paper Office in Dublin and are now held in the National Archives. Records remaining in England are now held among the records of the Colonial Office in the British National Archives at Kew, near London. Many of the most important of these records were published on microfilm in the 1990s. Copies of the microfilm publication are available in our National Archives in Dublin.

Prior to the development of modern information technology a strong case existed to seek the physical return of some of the records held at Kew. However, as it is increasingly the case that archival institutions worldwide are publishing their most important holdings in digital format, the physical location of the original material is not of as much relevance to historians and other researchers.

The National Archives is currently engaged in a number of major digital publication projects and, once these are well advanced, has undertaken to investigate the possibility of a co-operative digital publication programme of the early 20th century records it holds from the former Chief Secretary's Office and those records held in the British National Archives. I will endeavour to facilitate such a co-operative programme.

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