National Centre - Archives and records

The National Centre campus will house a research centre and repository of records related to institutional trauma in the 20th century, which will form part of the National Archives.

Most of the records to be contained in the National Centre will transfer to NAI from a government department or State body who created, received or held the records in the course of their own business functions. A process has commenced across departments to prepare these records for transfer to the National Centre under the provisions of the National Archives Act 1986.

As part of its ongoing work, NAI is also engaging with institutions and bodies who may hold relevant records, but are not subject to the 1986 Act, to address how such records could be appropriately made available over time, and accessible for research purposes in the context of the new archive.

In November 2024, Minister O’Gorman commenced legislation that provides for the preservation of privately-held administrative and other records related to Ireland’s institutional past.

The legislation covers relevant records relating to Magdalen Laundries, Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions, industrial schools, orphanages, adoption agencies and boarding out arrangements, as well as the bodies that ran or oversaw these institutions and placement arrangements. It is now an offence for holders of relevant records to destroy, mutilate, falsify, fail to maintain or to export them from the State.

The legislation also permits the Director of the National Archives to engage with potential private holders and request a statement of the relevant records they hold, which means there is the potential to obtain a clearer picture on which private entities still hold classes of institutional records - records which may help a person trying to understand their identity and how it was shaped by their institutional experience.

The legislation forms part of the Maternity Protection, Employment Equality and Preservation of Certain Records Act 2024. A full copy of the Act is available here.

Further information is available on our Preservation of privately-held records: Questions and Answers page.