Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The care and management of electronic records and the preservation of digital material is a challenge in all jurisdictions. Earlier this year, the National Archives joined the Digital Preservation Coalition to prepare itself for the development of a digital preservation strategy and to ensure it adopts appropriate and relevant standards in this area.

The management of Government and other public documents is, properly, a matter for each jurisdiction. The National Archives has a very good working relationship with the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland, PRONI.

Both organisations have digitised material for each other, as and when required. A member of the National Archives staff was on the review group for PRONI's digital repository in advance of its operational roll-out. My Department is supportive of this close working relationship.

Regarding digitisation, as I mentioned in my reply to the Deputy's earlier question, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform are working with the National Archives on a strategy and associated plan regarding the electronic management and preservation of digital records. A collaborative approach, based on a pilot and phased implementation of electronic record keeping systems, would have benefits across the Civil Service. In developing this project, regard will be had to international experience, including in Northern Ireland. As I said, I was delighted to be in a position to provide the National Archives with a special allocation of €150,000 for 2016 to commence work on the project.

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