Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

2494. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the steps he is taking given the social, cultural and political significance of the Irish Land Commission and the files therein to ensure that by 2022, 30 years after the Land Commission ceased to exist, that there will be full access to all of the records therein; the initiatives being taken to digitise these significant historical records; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19202/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

When the Irish Land Commission ceased functioning in 1992, its work was unfinished. My Department is charged with completing the work of the former Irish Land Commission (ILC) and, as such, the records of the Irish Land Commission are still working documents, accessed by my staff daily.

Decisions relating to access of the records of the former ILC are made by officials in the Department’s Records Branch in Portlaoise. Owners and purchasers and/or their personal/legal representatives are granted access to certain documents by prior consultation with that office. Access is only permitted where documentary evidence of ownership or entitlement to ownership is provided, together with payment of the prescribed fee.

Whilst the social, cultural and political significance of the Irish Land Commission is accepted, my Department currently has no plans to digitise all of the eight million plus Land Commission records held by the Department. Digitisation of records on such a vast scale is not considered feasible at this stage, having regard to both the form and condition of many of the records held and given the sheer scale of such an operation. However, my 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 in order to ascertain if specific records exist. This work is at an early stage and a process of internal consultation between Legal Services, IT and Procurement Divisions is taking place.

My Department has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Trinity College Dublin in relation to the "Beyond 2022 Project" which has undertaken an initial scoping of the pre-1922 ILC 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.