Church and State and archival records

Sir, – Fintan O’Toole’s article “Failure to prevent destruction of records is a further insult to those whose identities were stolen” (Opinion & Analysis, June 18th) is extremely important in highlighting the precarious status of the archival records of industrial schools, reformatories, mother and baby homes and Magdalene laundries.

While the State is planning to build a repository in the old Magdalene laundry on Sean McDermott Street in Dublin to house the records of these institutions, it is doing nothing to ensure that the records will be there when the repository is ready to receive them. It could be a case of putting the cart before the horse.

Already there is a history of concealment, stonewalling and neglect of historical records by religious institutions, Catholic and Protestant, which were entrusted with the care of vulnerable young women and children.

Fintan O’Toole proposes that an emergency Bill along the lines of that recently passed in Stormont protecting the records of religious institutions in Northern Ireland be passed in the Dáil and Seanad before the summer recess.