Deep History, Deepening Collaborations

9 Launch Events The State’s support for the Beyond 2022 project was announced in December 2019 by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD at Dublin Castle. The investment bore fruit on the centenary of the Four Courts blaze when Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD and Minister Catherine Martin TD launched the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland on Monday, June 27th, 2022. This new open-access resource brought together tens of thousands of historical records, replenishing the collections lost in the battle at the Four Courts. Over fifty million words of searchable text were made freely available for everyone interested in Irish history. Events Above: Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD (centre), Minister Catherine Martin TD, Provost Dr Linda Doyle, with the Chair of the International Cultural and Scientific Advisory Panel and the Core Partners, pictured on 27 June 2022 in the Connolly Room, Dublin Castle. Back row (L-R): Professor John McCafferty (UCD), Chair of the Irish Manuscripts Commission; Helen Shenton, Trinity College Dublin Librarian and Archivist; Professor Lorna Hughes, University of Glasgow (Chair of the International Cultural and Scientific Advisory Panel), Dr Peter Crooks ((TCD), Founder and Academic Director of the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland), Orlaith McBride (Director of the National Archives , Ireland), Heather Stanley (Acting Director, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland), Jeff James (Keeper/CEO, The National Archives UK), Zoë Reid (Keeper/Head of Public Services, National Archives, Ireland.