Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his outline of the position and the dangers that are imminent if we do not implement change. While I welcome the establishment of the working group, it seems a little unwieldy. This is a no brainer, requiring only a simple amendment to the National Archives Act, 1986. The longer we prevaricate and as Britain accelerates its programme of release of public documents under the new 20 year rule - there will initially be a transition period - the more historical interpretation of events will be skewed by the fact that its voice is heard but ours is not. We need to catch up. As I said, all that is required is a simple amendment. I will draft it if that would be helpful to the Minister. It is vital that we have a timescale for implementation of the necessary change. My preference is that it would be published and passed before the end of this Dáil term. It would not tax the Attorney General greatly to devise a minor amendment to the 1986 Act. I implore the Minister to act in view of the shared and troubled history between our two countries. As Britain begins releasing papers on the early formative years of the peace process, we need to ensure our perspective on these events is known.

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