Peter Costello
Archive Echoes of the past from the achives
Peter Costello reports from the National Archives of Ireland on the release under the 30-year rule of confidential state files from 1986
This week the National Archives released for public inspection State files from 1986 and earlier. This year some files date back to the 1920s, with large numbers from the 1940s.
Every January government files newly transferred from various departments of state are opened for the use of the public on the first working day of the year. This has become, for the national press, something of an annual event of some importance.
The major matter of interest was the New Ireland Forum, but the papers relating to this cast no new light on what was already known. They contain nothing indiscreet.
As other papers will be reporting on the polices of the day and the events in Northern Ireland. these pages concentrate on a variety of topics, otherwise overlooked by the media.
However, it must again be emphasised that as an exercise in open government and freedom of information these annual releases are something of an illusion. The magicians in the press may seem to draw rabbits from their hats, but they ignore the elephant behind the curtain.
This year, for instance, there were files from the Taoiseach’s department, Foreign Affairs, and Justice. Nothing from such vital and high spending departments as Agriculture, Health, Social Protection, the department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Some departments, it seems, never release anything any year.
The release of the files is seen as a move towards a more open and transparent style of government. But there has never been a government of any kind (the Vatican City included) which has not preferred to keep its secrets as long as possible.
The State Directory, however, lists some 16 government departments, and some 39 state offices. From this it will be clear at once that the annual release, though widely and rightly reported, is only the tip of the very large and hidden iceberg that is the apparatus of the State.
Several important departments rarely produce files; Agriculture, Defence, Health, Transport, and Education. All these impinge directly on our lives, our homes, and our safety. But we learn little about them.
Limited
Once state records were more limited. The National Archives, established in 1988, combined the old State Paper Office, which had been in Dublin Castle, with the Public Record Office, once housed in a building behind the Four Courts.
Our earliest public records were destroyed in 1922 by a bomb exploded by Peadar O’Donnell and other Republicans occupying the Four Courts: fragments of medieval documents floated away like confetti on the wind along the Liffey.
Other records had been destroyed in 1920 when the IRA burned the Custom House in an attempt to paralyse local government in Ireland. Others were destroyed by the British before Dublin Castle was handed over to the Free State. Others when Fianna Fail first came to power.
Nowadays other dangers beset the records. Some are judged of little value, or are merely administrative, and these are destroyed under Section 7 of the National Archives Act 1986. Others are held back, either for reasons of security, sensitivity, or because they are ongoing. Files are only transferred when they are closed, which can be a very flexible matter for a civil servant.
So what is presented as an exercise in open government is a very limited. But as the National Archives are underfunded, under resourced and understaffed, those directing it are glad that mass transfers do not put too much pressure on the whole system.
With the return of prosperity perhaps now the government can provide the increased funds for the National Archives, along the lines of similar institutions in the US, France, Great Britain and elsewhere.
The National Archives is located in Bishop Street, Dublin D08 DF85, beside the Dublin Institute of Technology, Aungier Street. The opening hours are 9.15am-5pm Monday to Friday. The records from 1986 and earlier were available to the public from 9.15am on Monday, January 2. For further information telephone: + 353 (0)1 407 2300; or email: mail@nationalarchives.ie