Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The issue regarding the council mentioned by the Deputy is that the Government has indicated that the National Archives, the Irish Manuscripts Commission and the National Library of Ireland shall be merged into a new national library and archives of Ireland. That merger will require amendment of the National Archives Act 1986 and the National Cultural Institutions Act 1997. The Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, Deputy Mary Hanafin, proposes to update the relevant archival legislation as part of that process. The new draft legislation will abolish three separate existing bodies and establish a new body. The initial draft of the legislation has been completed and transmitted to the directors of the National Archives and National Library and to the chairman of the Irish Manuscripts Commission for their observations. It is intended to bring the legislation before the Houses this year and it is the Minister's intention to reappoint the council in a new guise in order to advise on the amalgamation process as soon as she has the observations of the directors and the chairman of the Irish Manuscripts Commission.

The Deputy asked whether any electronic data has been archived away from the Department's storage area network. No data has been archived to date as there is sufficient capacity in the storage area network to accommodate all electronic records in my Department. Until such time as standards and guidelines are available my Department will continue to retain electronic documents and records indefinitely.

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