Government publishes Bill to preserve Ryan Commission records

A Bill has been published by the Government which proposes that records gathered by the Ryan Commission, which investigated abuse in residential institutions for children, be preserved for 75 years but without being available to the public.

It will also apply to records for the Redress Board and the Redress Review Committee.

Minister for Education and Skills Jan O'Sullivan has published the draft General Scheme for a Retention of Records Bill, 2015, as approved by the Cabinet. It proposes that, on the dissolution of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (Ryan Commission), the Residential Institutions Redress Board and the Residential Institutions Redress Review Committee, their records will be deposited with the National Archives. There they will be preserved and sealed for a period of 75 years.

Public inspection

After the 75-year period the records will be available for public inspection, subject to conditions agreed by the director and the regulations of the National Archives.

Minister O'Sullivan said that "in keeping with the motion adopted by Dáil Éireann following the publication of the Ryan Report, these proposals will allow the documentation received by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse to be preserved for posterity and not destroyed."

The records “contain the personal stories of victims of institutional child abuse”, she said, and she believed “it is very important that these records are not destroyed both to ensure that future generations will understand what happened and out of respect to the victims who came forward”.