The National Archives of Ireland (NAI) has been closed until Tuesday 31 October following a water leak on the top floor of the Bishop Street, Dublin, building. The leak was discovered this morning at 7:20am and emergency control plans were immediately activated.
This afternoon, Catherine Martin, TD, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media visited the site to view the damage and reported that the situation was brought under control in a timely fashion.
NAI Director Orlaith McBride said that NAI staff and conservation team had been on-site all day assessing the extent of the damage. "The special archival storage boxes and folders used by the National Archives are designed to withstand a high degree of water ingress; any damaged boxes from the affected areas have been removed to secure storage and are undergoing further examination."
She confirmed that Census 1926 records have not been affected, and added that most of the NAI's records have already been moved to secure storage off-site in secure storage elsewhere in anticipation of a major redevelopment project which should be starting fairly soon.
The National Archives building will remain closed to the public until 10am Tuesday to allow essential works to be completed.