Thursday 23 June 2011

In Parliament yesterday.....

The subject of Ireland's genealogy services was raised in the Dáil yesterday when TD Tom Fleming asked if the Government would set up a comprehensive central research facility for family historians.

In response, TD Jimmy Deenihan, Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, advised that work to release one million bmd records for Dublin City and County Cork would be 'substantially' completed by the end of next month ie July when they would be released on IrishGenealogy.ie. (The original release date was May, which shifted to June a couple of months ago. The website still says completion will be in June.)

He also advised that Tourism Ireland is working on a proposal to establish a genealogy web portal to provide direct incentives to people living overseas to come to Ireland. This facility would provide opportunities at a local level for specialist local history and genealogical services and products.

On the subject of the 1926 census, Deputy Deenihan advised that his department was still looking at the legal process necessary to ensuring the release of the records.

You can view the full 'debate', complete with additional facts and figures, on www.oireachtas.ie.