Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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219. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the amount of funding made available to date for the decade of centenaries programme; the amount that will be allocated and-or provided for in the remaining years; and if supplementary funds will be made available to the National Archive in the context of the large number of records it received on 1 February 2019 and in view of the fact this body is under-resourced to deal with this body of work. [9794/19]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The Decade of Centenaries programme commenced in 2012 and has to date commemorated major events including the 1916 Rising, the First World War, the introduction of voting rights for women and their right to stand as candidates in parliamentary elections. The objective of the State centenary commemoration programme for the remaining years from 2019 – 2023 is to ensure that this complex period in our history, including the Struggle for Independence, Partition, the Foundation of the State and the Civil War, is remembered appropriately, proportionately, respectfully and with sensitivity.

To date, total funding of €76m (current and capital) has been allocated to my Department for the programme. The programme will be appropriately and adequately resourced by Government for the remaining years out to 2023. Further information regarding the programme is available on my Department's website and on .

I am advised that the National Archives did not receive a large number of records on 1 February 2019. The National Archives is currently undertaking a project to decant archives from the Bishop Street warehouse in preparation for very significant capital works to deliver the Archives Repository Project. The repository project involves the construction of new storage facilities that will meet international standards for archival storage for the National Archives on the warehouse site.This is a key component of the €460m programme of investment in our National Cultural Institutions under the Government's National Development Plan.