Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have something to draw to the House's attention. It is a special day. There have been 101 years and 1,000 bound volumes of the Official Report of Dáil Éireann, sin Tuairisc Oifigiúil Dháil Éireann - 1,000 imleabhar. I have received correspondence from the Editor of Debates informing me that today's sitting marks a particular milestone in the history of this House as it will commence the 1,000th bound volume of Tuairisc Oifigiúil Dháil Éireann, the Official Report of debates of Dáil Éireann.

Ón tús, mheas Teachtaí go raibh sé tábhachtach imeachtaí na Dála a thaifead agus a fhoilsiú go comhuaineach. Under Standing Orders, all debates in this House are published in the Official Report which is produced by the staff of the Debates Office. Is í teanga na Dála, bíodh sí i nGaeilge nó i mBéarla, an teanga a tuairiscítear. Dar ndóigh, bhí an Ghaeilge i gcroílár na Tuairisce Oifigiúla le haghaidh an 21 Eanáir 1919.

These practices date back to the first sitting of the First Dáil on 21 January 1919, which we commemorated last year. For more than 70 years the Official Report was published in hard copy format as daily books for each sitting day, which were then compiled into bound volumes. The numbering system of these daily books and bound volumes was the basis of the reference classification of debates. Since the 1990s, the Official Report is now almost exclusively accessed via the Oireachtas website. However, under copyright legislation, bound volumes of the debates are still printed and deposited with the copyright libraries and, indeed, can still be purchased from the Government Publications Office. The reference classification of each sitting day by volume number and book number continues into the electronic era, and so today’s sitting will be referenced as Tuairisc Oifigiúil Dháil Éireann, Imleabhar 1,000, Leabhar Uimh. 1 - Volume 1,000, Book No. 1. Is ceart dúinn an ócáid a cheiliúradh agus a chomóradh. It is only right that we celebrate and remember.

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