Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I will deal with the storage matter first. No Minister could be other than ashamed for the treatment our National Archives have received over the years. It is a disgrace. It is our written history, yet it is being stored on inaccessible pallets with the rain pouring down on. In addition, we do not even know what is in there because it cannot be accessed. What is happening now is a sticking plaster job and, welcome as it is, it will not solve the problem in any way. There is no humidity control or access. It is a waste of the staff's time running up and down to the Four Courts to obtain material. There is no space for conservation and while good work is being done by the staff it is being done in a corridor. It is outrageous. The tragedy is that even though they have a statutory responsibility to take State papers, the staff cannot take them from many Departments. Therefore, Departments are holding archival material in God knows what sort of conditions.

The Minister has a capital budget, so this matter should be a priority. The Minister says things are bad now, but when things were good it was not considered a priority either. It is far more important than giving out lottery grants. This is our written history and we have a responsibility to do something about it.

Will the Minister give a commitment to make this matter a priority? This is the most important capital project because if it goes, it cannot be replaced. We lost so much of our archives in 1922 and therefore we must save the existing material. That is not to mention local authority, hospital and other archives, which are mouldering away due to lack of attention.

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