The scale of engagement with the decade of centenaries from 2013-23, along with the ongoing appetite for historical research, books and broadcasts suggests the endurance of a deep engagement with history in Ireland. Given the legacies of the events a century ago that reverberate to this day, including our political parties, partition and the impact of violence, it is unsurprising that history and current affairs frequently dovetail and that there is much focus on the need for evidence in order to deepen an appreciation of context.
This has been helped by advances in digitisation and enlightened projects funded by the State, including the online availability of the census returns from 1901 and 1911 and the release of the pension files of the veterans of the revolutionary decade. Yet what should be the jewel in our heritage crown has been consistently neglected. The National Archives of Ireland, so prominent at this time of year in reports of the latest State Paper releases, is a shadow of what it should be. It is chronically understaffed and underfunded and too many archive services are undermined by the restrictions under which they operate.
Preservation and accessibility of historical records goes to the heart of citizenship, the democratic process and human rights. The National Archives Act of 1986 places a legal obligation on State departments and bodies to publicly release archival material. This obligation is not being adequately fulfilled. The Act needs to be updated to reflect the contemporary challenges of management of public records, including data protection legislation, State bodies created since 1986, the legacy of abuse in institutions, and the move from a 30 to a 20-year rule for State Paper releases.
Inconsistencies abound in relation to ascertaining, locating and accessing records of institutions, while the lack of records management regulations in the civil service, including in relation to digital records, threatens the preservation of these archival documents. The 1986 Act also catered for the establishment of a National Archives Advisory Council to provide advice “on all matters affecting archives and their use by the public”. No Council has been in place since July 2022, a lamentable situation. The Council’s last report in 2022 called for “a statutory framework fit for purpose to underpin the work of the National Archives, and the provision of professional archivists and record managers within all government departments and statutory bodies”.
There are welcome plans for a €37 million project to future-proof the records of the State in a purpose-built modern archive building, but that needs to be matched with a properly funded overhaul of our whole archival infrastructure to facilitate a coherent and consistent approach to archival releases and access.