Archives, Access & Human Rights: Access to Local Authority Records in Donegal

Access to Local Authority Records in Donegal
Niamh Brennan, Archivist, Donegal County Council
Chair: Catriona Crowe MRIA

On the 13th of June 2024, the Historical Studies Committee held a 0ne-day conference exploring public and private archives in Ireland. Speakers included archivists, historians, civil servants, and survivor-focused human rights experts.

Archives, both public and private, are essential to both historical inquiry and to individuals whose identities and pasts are revealed by them. At this event, we explored two issues: access to official records, generated by government agencies and local authorities; and access to records consulted (many of them the property of religious congregations) and created by the various bodies which investigated Industrial Schools, Magdalene Laundries and Mother and Baby Homes. The latter records are supposed to be eventually located in the proposed Centre for Research and Remembrance at Sean McDermott St., Dublin.

The event was supported by Boston College, the ARINS Project, Justice for Magdalenes Research, the Irish Centre for Human Rights, the Irish Committee for Historical Sciences and the Archives and Records Association. A post-event report will be published later this year.