Wednesday 30 November 2011

Glasnevin Trust receives Excellence in Genealogy Award

Glasnevin Trust has received CIGO's 2011 Award for Excellence in Genealogy. At a ceremony earlier this evening, the award was presented by Jimmy Deenihan, T.D., Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Affairs, to the Trust's chairman John Green.

The honour recognises the Trust's contribution to the study of Irish genealogy through the creation and development of its database of all 1.5 million burials in the Glasnevin Trust cemeteries: Glasnevin (Prospect), Dardistown, Goldenbridge, Newlands Cross and Palmerstown, plus two crematoria.

These burial records date from as early as 1828 and, with access to the scanned images of the original burial registers also now online, access to this vital genealogical information is unparalleled in Ireland. The project has taken almost 20 years of development.

The result of the Trust’s commitment to this mammoth project has set an extremely high standard for data provision and one which will no doubt be an active encouragement for other cemetery authorities to emulate worldwide.

In presenting the Award, the Minister said: 'It's often stated that interest in Genealogy has never been as great as it is now. The work of the Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations (CIGO), and the Glasnevin Trust in digitising and transcribing its burial register, help play an enormous part in this enhanced interest. I would like to take this opportunity now to salute both CIGO and Glasnevin Trust for the part they help play in ensuring that this vital part of our cultural heritage is not just maintained but allowed to bloom.'

Steven Smyrl, chairman of CIGO’s Award Committee, commended Glasnevin Trust for its commitment to creating the burials database and for making their 1.5 million entries available to millions worldwide through the Internet.

He said: “For Dublin families, the lack of 19th century census records is more than made up for with the data now made available through the Trust’s website. The burial registers note people born as early as the middle of the 18th century.”

The Council for Irish Genealogical Organisations is an umbrella group, formed in 1992, representing the genealogical community within Ireland and worldwide. It represents almost all of Ireland’s societies and organisations involved in genealogical research as well as a number of others based across the English-speaking world.

Previous recipients of the Award include Dublin City Library & Archives in 2007 for its database of Dublin City electoral rolls and The National Archives of Ireland in 2010 for its digitisation of the 1901 and 1911 Irish Census.


Image of the first registered burial in Glasnevin Cemetery: 11-year-old Michael Carey of Francis Street, Dubliln, who died on 22 February 1832.

Find out more about Glasnevin Cemetery.