‘Paperless office’ is a popular term these days, but the reality is that virtually every public sector organisation in Ireland holds immense quantities of mostly paper records, often non-current and dating back decades. The destruction of redundant records is a pressing issue for government departments and public bodies, mainly because they are currently keeping so much unnecessary material in costly storage. In an ideal world, where an organisation has a functional and comprehensive records management programme, their retention and disposition schedule will clarify when and what records to destroy. However, as records management is a relatively new concept in Ireland, there is a substantial backlog of material in most organisations that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.

Eneclann has worked with a number of government departments and agencies to develop retention schedules and deal with backlogs. In our experience up to 50% of records are being stored unnecessarily. One government department we worked with recently discovered that up to 75% of the records they were storing could be destroyed. They are now in the process of doing so. This represents an enormous saving in terms of both the money paid to storage companies and the critical space in an organisation’s warehouse or basement.

The benefits of destroying obsolete records are not just financial. A proper records management policy with retention and destruction schedules leads to a realisation that information needs to be treated as a corporate asset and is subject to changing customer profile & demands. It provides consistent compliance with legislation and government policy and leads to improved efficiency and external interoperability.

Section 7 of the National Archives Act (1986) addresses the retention, transferral and disposition of records. It states that records which are not worthy of permanent preservation may be destroyed with the approval of the Department and the Director of the National Archives. They must be ‘destroyed in a manner which ensures that their confidentiality is not affected and that their contents are not ascertainable.’ Other applicable legislation includes the Finance Acts (1968-2006), the Industrial Relations Acts (1946-1990) the Local Government Act (2001), the Companies Act (1963) and the Organisation of Working Times Act (1997). These will designate the retention periods for various types of records and clarify when specific records may be destroyed. For example, certain financial records are to be kept for a period of 6 years plus the current year.

Destruction of redundant records must be authorised by the appropriate Department or body and by the National Archive. Once a destruction certificate has been signed by the relevant authorities, the organisation must identify a company that provides confidential destruction facilities to promote destruction of defunct records by staff. A company providing confidential destruction should be able to provide a certificate of destruction to be held on file. Confidential destruction involves shredding the documents and either recycling them or placing them in secure landfill. That they are unable to be accessed and reconstituted after their destruction is extremely important as an American agency found out to its cost in Iran in the 1980’s.

Records disposal may seem like a complicated procedure, fraught with implications but there are many trained archivists and archival consultancies available to provide assistance and advice. If the public sector concentrates on grappling with the issue of the destruction of its obsolete records over the next few years, it will experience enormous benefits both organisationally and financially into the future.

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