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records held at the commencement of this section elsewhere than in the Public Record Office of Ireland under an Act repealed by this Act.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. |