Lack of space in the National Archives of Ireland is preventing public access to many State papers and putting valuable records at risk of decay. Patrick Butler reports

One day the millions of documents that form the basis of our history may be safely digitised, unerasable. Until then, however, we are dependent on the paper records that generations before us have left behind.

How we treat them tells us something about how we treat our history. Which is why it is alarming that the number of papers held in the National Archives of Ireland, the repository for State documents, is expected to more than double in the coming years, from 265,000 at present to more than 600,000 in 2030.

Its facility on the former site of the Jacob's factory on Bishop Street in Dublin, close to St Stephen's Green, is bursting at the seams. So where are we going to put them all?

Shelves of archive boxes have already been put up in places where they were never meant to be erected, such as in the archive's warehouse, which was intended for general storage, not for the archiving of valuable records.

Dr David Craig, the archive's director, warned in his annual report last year that Bishop Street was almost full. His concern about the lack of shelving space is now also a concern about the effect of the building's microclimate. He believes archive material is not being kept to the highest international standards.

"All our storage is unsatisfactory, to a greater or lesser extent," he says.

The archive, which still keeps about 40 per cent of its papers at the Four Courts, where one of its predecessors was based, currently holds more than 265,000 boxes. They mainly contain papers, some of them dating back as far as the 13th century.

Keeping any paper in inadequate conditions - wrong temperature, wrong humidity - for a prolonged period will lead to its gradual disintegration. Modern paper is even more vulnerable to decay than centuries-old paper, which is more resilient because it is made from cotton.

"The paper will physically deteriorate and most likely become brittle and be liable to tear," says Craig. At the moment the archive employs only one conservator who can repair or strengthen damaged or fragile documents.

Another effect of the lack of space is that the archive is not receiving all the State papers that it should under the 30-year release rule. In some cases historians have had to adapt the scope of their research to suit the availability of material. Of particular concern is a lack of access to the records of Government Departments.

Under the terms of the National Archives Act, 1986, complete - or, at least, near complete - records from all Departments should be available for all times except the past three decades. At the moment that means until 1973. In some instances, however, records from decades earlier are still unavailable.

Even Mary Daly, professor of Irish history at University College Dublin and a member of the National Archives Advisory Council, has had to restrict her research, unable to obtain Department of Finance records for the years following 1942. "They've been available up to '42 for about 10 years, at least. The later ones have just not been made accessible," she says.

Although the archive still takes in newly released records that are liable to generate much media interest, such as documents from the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Foreign Affairs, much material from other Departments, such as Education and Science, has not been transferred, and the backlog is growing.

Craig is unable to say whether these documents, which many Departments are keeping in off-site stores, are being housed appropriately. Only one Department, as far as he knows, has a full-time archivist overseeing and cataloguing material to be transferred to the National Archives.

Craig says a lack of space is not the sole reason material has not been transferred - Departments can withhold material for certain reasons, such as when a document could be defamatory - but he concedes that inadequate shelving and storage room is the main problem. "The boxed material [from some Departments\] has not been transferred because we do not have the space," he says.

Liam Irwin, head of history at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, suggests a catch-22 has been created. "For people who are doing more contemporary history, the delay in transferring departmental records is obviously very serious. The other side of it is that if all Departments were fully up to date and fully transferring their records, then there would be a problem in terms of storage and making them available."

And it's not just an issue for historians. Carol Quinn of the Society of Archivists in Ireland - and another member of the National Archives Advisory Council - believes a lack of access to State records should concern everyone, not least for reasons of openness in a democratic society.

"It shows you how government works. It is the only record of how and why decisions were being taken," she says, citing the tribunals as evidence of the importance of detailed records.

According to Craig, Bishop Street was only ever meant to be a short-term home for the archive. He would like to stay on the site, but in a new building. There have been attempts to fund and build new premises since 1997; the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, which is responsible for the facility, insists it is still fully committed to a new building.

No definite plans for its construction have been announced, however. Proposals for a public-private partnership to fund a new archive - estimated to cost more than €45 million - will not be presented to the Department of Finance until next year. Even then there is no guarantee that the project will get the green light.

Craig believes that, if it is approved, the new archive will be able to cope with the physical storage of records until 2030. By then space should have become less of an issue, as new files will be electronic rather than paper.

Whatever the Government's decision, Irwin believes it's time to provide the resources to preserve what we often make a point of saying we are most proud of. "Irish nationalism and our sense of self-identity is what politicians and everybody else goes on about all the time, but when it comes to the history of the country and the preserving of the records . . . there seems to be a reluctance to spend money."

On the record

The National Archives of Ireland was established in 1988, replacing the Public Record Office of Ireland, founded in 1867, and the State Paper Office, founded in 1702.

It is primarily concerned with the records of Government Departments, the courts and other State bodies. In general, any that are more than 30 years old must be transferred to the archive and made available for inspection by the public.

Sixty per cent of the archive is held in the Bishop Street building and its adjoining warehouse. The remaining 40 per cent is held in the former Public Record Office at the Four Courts, which is closed to the public.

Access to Bishop Street is by a two-year reader's ticket, obtainable by completing a short application form. About 80 people visit each day.

For further information: www.nationalarchives.ie