Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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622. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will make available access to pre-1922 Land Commission records in view of their historical and cultural value to the citizens of the State. [37452/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Department officials have made enquiries into the matter and it is not feasible to make available the pre-1922 Land Commission records.To separate out these records would require a hand search of the eight million or so records of the former Irish Land Commission held by the Department.

The governing principle that pertained when filing Land Commission documents was to file by reference to the estate that the documents relate to, and not by date. Consequently, any given estate file could hold records covering the whole period of operation of the Land Commission and its successor units in the Department. 

Such an undertaking is not contemplated at this time due to resource and manpower issues.  However, the Department is actively considering how these important records can be made more accessible.