Minister for Arts John O'Donoghue said he would investigate the possibility of having documents removed by the British from Dublin Castle in 1922 returned to the State.
He said prior to the development of modern information technology a strong case existed to seek the physical return of some of the records held in Kew.
However, as it was increasingly the case that archival institutions worldwide were publishing their most important holdings in digital format, the physical location of the original material was not of as much relevance to historians and other researchers.
"The National Archives is currently engaged in a number of major digital publication projects, and once these are well advanced it has undertaken to investigate the possibility of a co-operative digital publication programme of the early 20th century records it holds from the former chief secretary's office and those records held in the British national archives.
"I will endeavour to facilitate such a co-operative programme."
The Minister was replying to Catherine Murphy (Independent, Kildare North) who said there was tourism potential for some of the material held as there would be long lists of records relating to the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Dublin Metropolitan Police.
"I have come across fascinating information on going through most of the boxes in Kew. My interest was in family history. However, a significant amount of the material I encountered, some of which was confiscated, would not transfer well to microfilm or CD-ROM."
