Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

I agree that the staff of the National Archives of Ireland do excellent work in the facilities available and in the given circumstances. Over the past 20 years, the volume of files being sent to the archives by Departments and agencies has increased substantially, and this obviously results in pressure.

I would have to get the up-to-date position but I know the Office of Public Works was considering obtaining a very large city-centre location for the archives. However, I believe there were difficulties in this regard because, as the Deputy pointed out, problems arose with access to the building and environmental considerations. The building was an old Georgian building on Parnell Square, the old Coláiste Mhuire site. Afterwards, the Office of Public Works considered some buildlings resulting from decentralisation. I will ask the office for an update on what it is doing in this regard.

It is obviously vital that the existing records be maintained for posterity. The staff of the National Archives of Ireland have done a lot of work in cataloguing. I do not have a record of exactly where that work has been done. The files are enormously important to the State. I do not refer to the current ones but to the historic ones. I understand the staff of the National Archives of Ireland have put a lot of effort into cataloguing over the past 20 years. Perhaps it is not a question of the volume that the staff had to deal with, but I will check.

The real problem concerns the significant increase in the space required to store the archives. I am told a fairly central location is required. Perhaps I will obtain a report from the Office of Public Works and send it to Deputy Kenny.

See this speech in context