Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The National Archives hold testamentary records from the Probate Office up to 1991. The Public Records (Ireland) Act 1867 established the Public Record Office of Ireland as the official place of deposit for the records of the higher courts once they were 20 years old. This practice continued until recently, with many court offices, particularly the Probate Office, transferring their records to the National Archives once they were 20 years old. The National Archives have advised publicly that due to the lack of storage space in recent years, this practice has ceased and courts now transfer records when they are 30 years old, which is a difficulty in itself.

I am not sure whether it comes under the remit of the Minister, but the trouble in west Cork is that there does not seem to be a plan in place for the appointment of a State solicitor to west Cork to replace the person who retired in December 2022 after 36 years of service. Jeremiah Healy of Fermoy is State solicitor for east Cork and is currently acting as State solicitor for west Cork. This is not a satisfactory long-term arrangement. We want to retain our own State solicitor in west Cork, and there are plenty of suitably qualified solicitors willing to take up the position.

Records should be digitised, as has been said, and recorded. Many people call to the church for their historical records, State records. There seems to be a lot of records all over the place as such, but not compiled into one to allow people access to their personal information or that of their families.

People and family members come from all over the world, especially to west Cork, which is a tourist area, and they want to go through the records. Some are held in churches and some in State buildings. I hope this prioritises the whole issue. Records should be digitised and recorded.

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