Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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959. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will consider creating an enabling environment for digitisation of archives and records across all levels in the State, including cultural institutions, Government bodies, educational institutions and so on; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24893/16]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Digitisation is a powerful tool to create new ways for people to interact with their cultural heritage. In recognition of the importance of the digitisation, the draft Framework Policy document Éire Ildánach/Culture 2025 has Responding to the Digital Age as one of its seven pillars. I forwarded the document to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs in July.

The care and management of electronic records and the preservation of digital material is a challenge for the National Cultural Institutions, all of which have digitisation programmes in place. Developing approaches to digital records is particularly important for the National Archives. In this regard, the National Archives joined the Digital Preservation Coalition in 2015, an international advocate body for digital preservation, to better prepare itself for the development of a digital preservation strategy and to ensure it adopts the appropriate and relevant standards in this area.

As part of the Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme, my Department funded a number of specific digitisation projects in the National Cultural Institutions, including

-the National Library project to digitise the personal papers of the signatories of the Proclamation; and

- the National Archives projects to digitise the Chief Secretary's Office: Movement of Extremistscollection and the Dublin Metropolitan Police records leading up to Easter 1916.

My Department has also supported archiving digitising of Irish film in the Irish Film Institute.

Furthermore, the Office of Government Chief Information Officer and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform are working with the National Archives and my Department on a strategy and associated plan in relation to the electronic management and preservation of digital records across the public service. I provided the National Archives with a special allocation of €150,000 in 2016 to commence work on this project.

In addition, as part of the Decade of Commemorations programme, funding is being provided for the first phase in a capital development plan at the National Archives. €8m has been made available for the purposes of this capital development, which will shortly go to tender.

All of these initiatives are aimed at providing the enabling environment to which the Deputy refers in her Question.