THE public has been denied access to the 1966 records of most government departments because the National Archives office has nowhere to store them. The records should have been available to the public from today but, according to the director of the National Archives, Dr David Craig, only three sets of records are being provided because of an accommodation crisis.
These are the government and cabinet minutes, files of the Department of the Taoiseach and files of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Unless the situation improves, the National archives may be unable to release the 1967 papers next year, Dr Craig warned.
The National Archives was given a permanent home in a building in Bishop Street, Dublin, in 1989, but has never been given the £12 million it would cost to convert the warehouse there to store records. In addition, the sitting occupant, the Government Supplies Agency, has failed to vacate the building entirely and still occupies a floor which should have been handed over to the archives last year.
