Written answers
Wednesday, 14 May 2025
Department of An Taoiseach
Departmental Records
Paula Butterly (Louth, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
1. To ask the Taoiseach the number of certificates of withholding from public inspection of departmental records approved by his Department under the National Archives Act 1986 in each of the years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, respectively, by Department or State agency, in tabular form. [24515/25]
Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source
The Consenting Officer in the Department of Taoiseach receives applications in the form of certificates from Certifying Officers in Departments/Offices of State for the withholding of records, in accordance with the National Archives Act.
The number of certificates approved by the Consenting Officer in each of the years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 is provided in the table below.
| Department/Office | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Department of Children, Equality, Disability Integration and Youth | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Department of Defence | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 102 |
| Department of Finance | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Department of Foreign Affairs | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Department of Health | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Department of Justice | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Department of the Taoiseach | 10 | 110 | 57 | 40 | 26 |
| Military Archives | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Office of the Attorney General | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions | 0 | 17 | 19 | 1 | 1 |
| President's Office | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
It should be noted that the above table provides details of the number of certificates approved by the Consenting Officer in each of the years in question (as opposed to the number of records or files withheld). Depending on how Departments/Offices manage the transfer of their records to the National Archives, a certificate may relate to a single file/record or a series of records. In the case of the Department of the Taoiseach, normally a certificate is prepared for each file containing redacted papers. In 2021, the number of certificates in respect of the Department of the Taoiseach's files was higher than usual due to a large release of Northern Ireland files to the National Archives under the 20 year rule.
No comments