The Government has officially opened a major expansion of the National Archives on Bishop Street, Dublin 8, unveiling a purpose-built, environmentally controlled repository designed to safeguard the State's records for decades to come.

Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport Patrick O'Donovan TD and Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (OPW) Kevin 'Boxer' Moran TD marked the opening, describing it as a significant milestone for one of Ireland's key cultural institutions. The project began in May 2024 and finished within 98 weeks, remaining within its approved €37.1 million budget.

The upgraded facility will accommodate more than 300,000 archive boxes and increases overall storage capacity by two-thirds. This will allow the National Archives to house its existing collection of approximately 60 million records and to accept large volumes of State records currently held by Government departments.

The National Archives preserves the official records of the State alongside private collections, spanning from the 16th century to the present day. Its holdings include the 1901 and 1911 Censuses, and it has recently completed the public release of the 1926 Census, the first census of the Irish Free State, which took place on 18 April 1926.

While the main collections are held at Bishop Street, with public reading rooms and office accommodation, additional storage is located at the original Public Record Office building at the Four Courts. The Bishop Street site, a former Jacob's biscuit factory, has been at full capacity since 2013, leading to the use of commercial off-site storage and a growing backlog of departmental transfers. The new repository will enable the transfer of all outstanding records to the National Archives.

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Speaking at the National Archives today Minister O'Donovan said: "I am delighted to be here today to unveil what is a truly transformative project for the National Archives. This is significant project for one of our Cultural Institutions and ensures that the National Archives can meet its evolving needs in a sustainable and future-proofed manner. We saw during the Decade of Centenaries and with the recent release of the 1926 Census, the vital role the National Archives plays in preserving the precious records of the State."

Minister O'Donovan added: "This expansion and conversion of the Bishop St building into a modern, state of the art, secure and environmentally-controlled repository, complying with internationally accepted archival storage standards will provide an increase of two-thirds in the total storage capacity of the National Archives and will enable the National Archives to continue to deliver on its statutory responsibility to protect and preserve the records of government."

Also speaking today, Minister Kevin 'Boxer' Moran, Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works said: "Today's opening of the new National Archives repository marks an important investment in safeguarding the State's physical records and collections for the future. This purpose-built facility provides the necessary space required to accommodate not only our current volume of records but also ensures our archival heritage is protected, securely preserved and accessible for generations to come. I am delighted that the repository is now complete, ready to meet the evolving needs of the National Archives now and into the future."

Director of the National Archives, Orlaith McBride, said: "This is an exciting time for us at the National Archives. We are thrilled to have such an incredible building completed for us by the OPW and Duggan Brothers Construction. This investment by Government in the National Archives is a real demonstration of the value it has in us as an institution and in our role. We look forward now to our next chapter when we will work closely with our partners across government departments to enable them to transfer their back-log records to our new building and enable them to be made available to the public."

The redevelopment was funded by the Department for Culture, Communications and Sport and delivered in partnership with the OPW. It forms part of the National Development Plan, Project Ireland 2040, which is renewing and future-proofing Ireland's national cultural institutions. The National Archives is also developing a Digital Repository to support the transfer and preservation of born-digital records.

Established under the National Archives Act 1986—merging the former Public Record Office and the State Paper Office—the National Archives moved its headquarters in 1992 from the Four Courts to Bishop Street. Under the Act, records of Government departments and agencies are transferred to the National Archives once they reach 30/20 years old, with hard-copy records continuing to move across.

Capacity constraints since 2013 meant the institution accepted less than half of its typical annual intake of 30-year records—about 5,000 of an estimated 12,000 boxes—prioritising material of significant public interest such as Government decisions and Anglo-Irish files. The new repository will allow those backlogs to be addressed and ensure timely public access to the State's archival heritage.