Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 42 and 43 le chéile.

The storage difficulties at the National Archives are widely acknowledged. A permanent solution would be a new storage building, but in the current economic climate it will not be possible to set aside the necessary resources to construct a new building. However, I am concerned that the best possible use should be made of the accommodation that is currently available to the National Archives. There is a large warehouse behind the National Archives' Bishop Street offices in which many archives are being stored. Unfortunately, the roof of the warehouse is of poor quality. As a result, many of the records have to be stored in waterproof plastic bales to protect them from damage and are not readily accessible to the public. The other main National Archives record store is located within the Four Courts complex, which makes retrieval difficult and relatively expensive.

My Department has requested the OPW to fit out new storage space within the Bishop Street building. This space was recently vacated by the Land Commission. This work is currently underway. My Department has also asked the OPW to draw up a short to medium-term plan to improve the overall amount of useable storage space in the Bishop Street warehouse, and this is being drawn up. In addition, the OPW has already provided some off-site storage accommodation for certain series of archives. While it is not ideal to have archives dispersed, the combination of measures being taken at the moment should relieve the situation in the short to medium-term for the National Archives. Notwithstanding the reduced allocation to my Department's capital programme, I have asked my officials to ensure that the OPW monitors the potential suitability for the National Archives of any properties that become available.

The National Archives Advisory Council derives its legal existence under section 20 of the National Archives Act 1986, "to advise him [the Minister] in the exercise of his powers under this Act, and on all matters affecting archives and their use by the public, and to discharge the other functions conferred on it by this Act". The council was first established in January 1987. Under the Local Government Act 1994 and the Harbours Act 1996, the council may also advise the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, and the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources on any matters affecting local archives and harbour archives respectively.

The council may not meet at present as, unfortunately, there are a number of vacancies that fall to be filled, including that of the chairman, which is a statutory requirement. I am currently considering reconstituting the council and I intend to bring this to a conclusion at an early date.

See this speech in context