Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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235. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when construction works will commence on the new state-of-the-art archives repository project; and the estimated duration of such works. [41411/20]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The Government's Project Ireland 2040 programme is a ten year capital development plan which commits inter alia to the redevelopment of Ireland's National Cultural Institutions, including the redevelopment of the National Archives.

Work has already been competed on the removal of archives from the warehouse of the National Archives. The move is part of preparatory works by the Office of Public Works before the commencement of the main construction element of the project which is estimated to begin  in the first half 2021. The main construction period is estimated to last 16 months.

The new repository will provide international-standard accommodation for approximately 350,000 archival boxes and this extra storage capacity will ensure the permanent preservation of records for future generations.