Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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788. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if her attention has been drawn to a report on behalf of an organisation (details supplied) that found only four out of 61 Departments and State agencies covered by the National Archives Act 1986 are up to date with their legal obligations to transfer records to the National Archives of Ireland; her plans to address the matter; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53078/19]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Under the National Archives Act 1986, the obligation to transfer records to the National Archives rests with Departments and Offices.  I understand that the records management across the public service has seen improvement in recent years and a number of Government Departments and Offices have themselves employed archivists to improve work on their own archives and those being transferred to the National Archives.

In the meantime, all 30-year old files worthy of permanent preservation created by the central registries in both the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade have been accepted for deposit this year at the National Archives.

It is intended that once the necessary storage accommodation is secured in 2020, the remaining 30-year old transfers will be deposited. Once archival processing has been completed, the material will then be released for public inspection.

I have allocated over €20m for the provision of an Archival Repository at the National Archives building at Bishop Street, Dublin.  Enabling works have commenced with the decant of a warehouse at the rear of the property.  I hope that the main construction tender for this project will be published shortly.  When complete, the project will provide a state-of-the-art modern archival storage facility.  I look forward to making further announcements on this very important project shortly.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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789. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if her attention has been drawn to a report on behalf of an organisation (details supplied) that found serious staffing and skills shortages in the National Archives of Ireland has led to a substantial backlog in the processing of records and identified major shortcomings in the digitisation of records and the development of online access; her plans to address the matter; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53079/19]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Earlier this year, my Department underwent an organisational capability review which was undertaken by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with the co-operation of my Department.  This Review identified a number of challenges and made recommendations to address those challenges, which will be addressed by an Action Plan currently being drawn up by my Department. 

The Review recognised some long-running capacity constraints under which my Department has been operating including constraints in the National Archives.  It acknowledged however additional resources had been secured since 2018, allowing the recruitment of additional staffing this year, including the recruitment of archivists.  

The Review recommended that the Department continue to expand its staff cohort in the coming years and my Department intends to continue to address emerging priorities and any staff gaps as part of an ongoing strategic human resource planning. 

The implementation of this recommendation is, in large part, being addressed as part of the annual Estimates process and my Department is committed to using every opportunity to advocate for additional resources.  In recognition of the importance of records and archives, many other Government Departments also have an opportunity to employ archivists to improve the position on their own archives and those being transferred to the National Archives.