Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)

Senator Quinn raised many important subjects and they are far more extensive than I can possibly deal with in a reply of this kind. Perhaps he should seek a much fuller debate.

The National Archives holds the records of the modern Irish State, which document its historical evolution. It also holds a substantial number of records pre-dating that. With the National Library, it is the main twin repository of our documentary political, social, economic, and cultural heritage. Our modern National Archives were established on 1 June 1988, and took over the functions previously performed by the State Paper Office and the Public Record Office of Ireland. Under the 1986 legislation, the records of Departments, and their agencies, are transferred to the National Archives when they are 30 years old. As someone who has been a reader in the archives, but who in the past has advised the Department of the Taoiseach on the transfer of records more than 30 years old relating to Northern Ireland, I have more than a passing interest in, and commitment to the National Archives.

The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism has ministerial responsibility for the National Archives. However, the Minister for Finance may, under the National Archives Act, make regulations concerning the proper management and preservation of departmental records held by Departments, and under the Freedom of Information Act 1997 make regulations providing for the management and maintenance of records by public bodies in general. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources also may, under the Harbours Act 1996, give advice or directions to harbour companies and authorities on their records and archives, and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government may give advice or directions to local authorities on local records and local archives, under the Local Government Act 2001. As Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works, I have responsibility for the upkeep and maintenance of the National Archives headquarters. The property is owned by the Commissioners for Public Works.

This House will be aware that Government has indicated that the National Archives, the Irish Manuscripts Commission and the National Library of Ireland shall be merged into a new national library and archives of Ireland. This merger will require the amendment of the National Archives Act 1986 and of the National Cultural Institutions Act 1997. The Minister proposes to update the relevant archival legislation as part of this process.

The new draft legislation is complex, deals with three separate existing bodies, abolishes these bodies, and establishes a new body. The initial draft of this legislation has been completed and transmitted to the directors of the National Archives and National Library and to the chairman of the Irish Manuscripts Commission for their observations. It is intended to bring this legislation before the Houses this year. I assure the Senator that the legislative requirements of the National Archives are being attended to within the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism at present.

It is acknowledged that the National Archives suffers from a long-standing storage challenge on a constrained site. While efforts have been made to accommodate the State records within its Bishop Street premises, the accommodation currently available there is unsatisfactory. Under present economic circumstances, the planned major capital investment to redevelop the entire Bishop Street facility for the National Archives, involving the subsequent closure of its Four Courts storage, is currently not affordable, and legislation, of itself, cannot resolve this.

The difficulties in the National Archives are being approached in the main from two perspectives. The OPW, at the instigation of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, has agreed to produce a short-to-medium term solution to the storage and accommodation needs of the archives within the existing Bishop Street building complex. The OPW will prepare proposals, and has provided some off-site storage for certain series of records. In addition, the OPW has indicated it will move certain Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food records, mainly relating to the Land Commission, which are still in use out of Bishop Street and thus free up space for the National Archives proper. The administrative staffing of the National Archives, which was admittedly relatively small, has also been strengthened by the Department in recent times.

Conscious of the need to ensure it provides a good service for the public, the National Archives has increasingly engaged with new technology within its limited resources. The digitisation of the 1911 and 1901 census returns is a good example. The National Archives set up this project as a research partnership with its counterpart, Library and Archives Canada. Other partners included the National Library of Ireland and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. The project involved digitising the census returns and background material and making them searchable by address or surname. Library and Archives Canada, deservedly, has a worldwide reputation in the field of document digitisation. As a fellow national archival institution, it shared the same values in the preservation of and access to documentary heritage as the National Archives.

The project is being undertaken in two phases. The 1911 returns for the 32 counties were digitised and are being followed by the 1901 returns. The first phase was launched in December 2007 with the 1911 returns for Dublin city and county. The user figures were very encouraging, with more than 15 million hits and 900,000 individual users on the new website. The records for Dublin were followed in December 2008, when those for counties Antrim, Down and Kerry went live. I launched some of these digitised records in Bishop Street on 22 December 2008. The cumulative traffic figures for 2008 rose to in excess of 31 million hits and more than 2.2 million users. In August 2009 the 1911 returns for the remaining counties went live. To date, there have been almost 165 million hits and 5.5 million users on the website. Of these, the bulk, some 57%, are Irish users, followed by UK users which account for 30%, USA users which account for 5.7%, European users which account for 2.9%, Australian users which account for 1.3%, Canadian users which account for 1% and so on. When one considers that this usage in the United Kingdom and the United States has developed spontaneously, as there has as yet been no formal launch organised for either country, it bodes well for the future.

The National Archives has invited Tourism Ireland to co-operate with it to encourage users to visit Ireland. In addition to visits, it is expected the availability of the census information may well give rise to a demand for old maps and other information from people who wish to trace their roots here. Other digitisation projects are either in train or planning in the National Archives.

While we can move away somewhat from the paper-based presentation of our national records, there is still a need to archive and store the paper original. This is receiving a high priority in the Department and the Office of Public Works. Shouldering my two responsibilities, I am determined to see a cost-effective solution through to a completion. Senior management teams in the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism and the OPW are meeting early next week to advance the solution. I thank the Senator for his interest in the National Archives.