Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 3 and 4 together.

Records in my Department are created and held in compliance with the provisions of the Data Protection Acts, the Freedom of information Act and the National Archives Act. Minutes are taken of meetings held in my Department where judged appropriate. For example, records are kept of all decisions taken at Government meetings on the basis of memoranda submitted by Ministers. Records are kept of all Cabinet committee meetings and circulated to relevant Ministers and a note is normally taken of meetings I have in the Department with delegations or interest groups.

My Department has a designated member of staff who is responsible for managing the Department’s records and a designated certifying officer who is responsible for compliance with the National Archives Act 1986. National Archives staff assist with work relating to the annual transfer of Departmental records to the National Archives. These staff maintain a central registry record-keeping system, comprising a registry file tracking system and a central repository for the storage of departmental records. The location of files in the Department is monitored from the time of their creation until they are transferred to the National Archives for permanent preservation. In-house workshops on the creation and maintenance of records have been provided for staff by relevant officials from the Department and the National Archives.

The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has been established to give guidance and leadership in the development of an ICT and record management strategy across the Civil Service. My Department will actively engage with this work. This Government has also introduced a range of legislative reforms to increase transparency, including a restoration and enhancement of the freedom of information legislation, a new protected disclosures regime and ground-breaking legislation to regulate lobbying.

Members will be aware of the move from a 30-year to a 20-year release of records. The British Government did this and, clearly, one does want to see a situation whereby papers relevant to one Government in respect of, for instance, Northern Ireland would be released many years earlier than would normally follow here. The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Heather Humphreys, is examining the issue and the Government has given its approval to move to that system.

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