The Minister for Education and Skills, Jan O’Sullivan TD, has published a draft General Scheme for a Retention of Records Bill, 2015. It deals with the records of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, the Residential Institutions Redress Board and the Residential Institutions Redress Review Committee.

The Minister for Education and Skills, Jan O’Sullivan TD, has published a draft General Scheme for a Retention of Records Bill, 2015. It deals with the records of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, the Residential Institutions Redress Board and the Residential Institutions Redress Review Committee.

This General Scheme proposes moving these records to the National Archives when the agencies are dissolved. They would then be preserved and sealed for 75 years.

The Director of the National Archives can certify that some records do not warrant preservation, and they will then be destroyed, following the consent of the Minister for Education and Skills. The records that are not destroyed will be available for public inspection after 75 years, subject to such conditions determined by the National Archives.

Speaking on publication of the draft Scheme, Minister O’Sullivan said:

“In keeping with the Motion adopted by Dáil Éireann following the publication of the Ryan Report, these proposals will allow the documentation received by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse to be preserved for posterity and not destroyed.

“They will also preserve the documentation of the Residential Institutions Redress Board and Review Committee. These records are highly sensitive and contain the personal stories of victims of institutional child abuse.

“I believe that it is very important that these records are not destroyed both to ensure that future generations will understand what happened and out of respect to the victims who came forward. By sealing the records for 75 years and ensuring appropriate safeguards on the release of the records thereafter, we are in a position to preserve these sensitive records”.

The General Scheme for a Retention of Records Bill, 2015 has been approved by the Cabinet, and can be viewed by going to http://www.education.ie/en/Press-Events/Press-Releases/2015-Press-Releases/PR2015-03-10.html#sthash.dq9rfHVI.dpuf. Minister O’Sullivan has referred the draft General Scheme to the Joint Oireachtas Committee of Education and Social Protection for Pre-Legislative Scrutiny.