Thursday 20 June 2019

First phase of NAI's €22m redevelopment has completed

Speaking at the National Archives of Ireland (NAI) this morning, Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan TD announced that the first phase of enabling works to prepare for the National Archives’ major new Project Ireland 2040 Repository Redevelopment is completed. The project is costing €22 million. More than 70,000 boxes of records have been transferred to temporary storage to facilitate the preliminary redevelopment works at Bishop Street, Dublin 8 while the majority of records continue to be accessible to the public.

National Archives of Ireland, Dublin 8
The scheme will deliver new purpose-built storage facilities at the existing NAI premises and will build-in the potential to develop and construct additional storage in the future. Funded by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, it will have the capacity to store 250,000 boxes of records.

The Minister also complimented the NAI’s recently revamped website which provides easy online access to services provided by the repository to both government and the public. Video technology has been incorporated into the new site to facilitate a behind the scenes look at some of the projects currently being undertaken in the NAI, such as the conservation of archives salvaged from the Public Record Office fire in 1922.

Microsites highlighting the abundant genealogy collections and contributions by the NAI to the Decade of Centenaries can now be accessed from the new homepage, enabling easier online pathways and showcasing the variety and richness of its records which are available to the public.