SATISFACTORY PROCEDURES are in place for the preservation and archiving of all records in the Taoiseach’s department whether in electronic or paper form, Brian Cowen has said.

Mr Cowen said his department complied with national archives legislation which stipulates “that all official records, regardless of their format, which are received or created by the Department of the Taoiseach must be preserved”.

He told the Dáil that legislation to merge the National Archives, the Irish Manuscripts Commission and the National Library of Ireland into a new national library and archives of Ireland would be introduced by the end of this year.

During question time the Opposition expressed concern about archives. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny asked for confirmation that “no information, either paper or electronic, will be lost for future years”. He said that a significant number of important and valuable Irish manuscripts were held in monasteries and at other locations abroad and many “are beginning to seriously disintegrate. They are a fundamental and valuable part of this country’s heritage and history, and some are very aged.

“It would be important for the authorities and owners of the locations where the manuscripts are held to be contacted either by the Department of the Taoiseach or the reformed entity as a matter of some urgency”. Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said the retention was essential to “future historians”. He asked: “What assurance do we have that these records will survive in electronic format and future historians, when they come to consider documents under the 30-year rule, will still have the range of material available to them as they have had up to now?”