Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator. I am commenting on behalf of my colleague the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, who, due to a prior commitment, is unable to be here. For the record, I will read his response.

He has made inquiries into the matter. The position is that there are no immediate plans to make the 8 million or so records of the former Irish Land Commission generally available to the public for research purposes or otherwise as they are still working documents. While the question specifically refers to records from the period 1870 to 1921, it is not feasible to separate out those records as they were lodged by reference to the estate to which they relate and not by date. Any given estate file could hold records covering the entire period of operation of the Irish Land Commission.

When the commission ceased functioning in 1992, its work was unfinished. The Department was charged with completing the work of the commission and, as such, the commission's records are still working documents, accessed by departmental staff daily. While officials in the Department are aware of the interest of the public, historians and genealogists in obtaining access to the vast depository of documents relating to the former Irish Land Commission, opening up access to these files cannot be considered until appropriate measures are undertaken to minimise potential damage from routine handling. The records, which are stored as a departmental facility in Portlaoise, exist in paper format only and are fragile. Some date back as far as the late 1800s and comprise a resource that would be irreplaceable if damaged. To maintain them, it is essential that they be handled and stored appropriately.

While limited access has been granted to researchers on application, on a case-by-case basis, the office does not provide a research facility as the provision of such a service would require much greater resources than those currently available. Wider access will be a matter for consideration when the completion of the work of the former Irish Land Commission is at a more advanced stage. However, the Department is examining the possibility of digitising certain key search aids, which will enable electronic searches to be carried out by members of the public to ascertain whether specific records exist. This work is at an early stage and a process of internal consultation between legal services, IT and the procurement division is taking place.

Furthermore, the Department has signed a memorandum of understanding with Trinity College Dublin on the Beyond 2022 project, which has undertaken an initial scoping of the pre-1922 Irish Land Commission records. That project is working to recreate the records lost in the destruction of the Public Records Office of Ireland at the Four Courts in 1922.