Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister appropriately makes reference to what the previous Fianna Fáil Government appeared to be about. In June 2010, the then Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, said that the Government intended to introduce a draft Bill. The initial draft was circulated to the National Archives, the National Library and the chairman of the Irish Manuscripts Commission for observations. No firm commitment was made to do any more than that. Even if it were, to do as the Minister proposes is not in the interests of the institutions. At the eleventh hour, I call on the Minister to desist. He should realise that the experts in the field, apart from the Minister, are not ad idem and that a more sophisticated approach, involving procurement, shared services and so on, is the approach that should be adopted.

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