Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government desires a balanced approach to the release of departmental records. For this reason the proposed legislation includes checks and balances. All decisions to release documents will be taken in consultation with the director of the National Archives. The consent of the Taoiseach, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and the relevant member of the Government are also required. These consultations and consents are being carried out to ensure that this legislation is acted on and that the requisite resources are in place. There are conditions that must also be met, namely, that the documents have to be of historical or public interest, there must be a fair and balanced reporting of matters of common interest to the State and other jurisdictions and arrangements for such transfer must be adequate.

The role of the director of the National Archives is defined under the National Archives Act 1986. The wording of this amendment, if carried, would give a co-decision role to the director before a Government Minister could agree to transfer records to the National Archives after 20 years. This is not appropriate. The director would not be in a position to judge the test for release set out in the Bill, as I have mentioned. The relevant expertise in this regard will rest with the Departments which hold the documents. For these reasons, I cannot accept the amendments.