National Archives Act, 1986

Archives and Departmental records.

2.—(1) For the purposes of this Act, “archives” includes—

(a) such records and documents (and copies of them) as are, at the commencement of this Act, held in the Public Record Office of Ireland or the State Paper Office,

(b) Departmental records transferred to and accepted for preservation by the National Archives under this Act,

(c) other records or documents (and copies of them) acquired permanently or on loan by the National Archives from public service organisations, institutions or private individuals,

(d) all public records held at the commencement of this section elsewhere than in the Public Record Office of Ireland under an Act repealed by this Act.

(2) For the purposes of this Act, “Departmental records” means any of the following—

books,

maps,

plans,

drawings,

papers,

files,

photographs,

films,

microfilms and other micrographic records,

sound recordings,

pictorial records,

magnetic tapes,

magnetic discs,

optical or video discs,

other machine-readable records,

other documentary or processed material,

made or received, and held in the course of its business, by a Department of State within the meaning of section 1 (2) or any body which is a committee, commission or tribunal of enquiry appointed from time to time by the Government, a member of the Government or the Attorney General, and includes copies of any such records duly made, but does not include—

(i) grants, deeds or other instruments of title relating to property for the time being vested in the State, and

(ii) any part of the permanent collection of a library, museum or gallery.

(3) Nothing in this Act shall prevent a Department of State from retaining a copy of any record transferred under this Act to the National Archives.