Written Answers. - General Register Office.
Enda Kenny
Question:
327
Mr. Kenny
asked the
Minister for Health and Children
if he has approved a price increase for visitors seeking information from the General Register Office in Dublin; if so, the nature of this price increase; the reason for the increase; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[27878/98]
Enda Kenny
Question:
328
Mr. Kenny
asked the
Minister for Health and Children
the remit and responsibilities of the registrar of the General Register Office in Dublin; the numbers of staff employed on a full-time and part-time basis; the cost of running the General Register Office on an annual basis; if cost cutting measures have been sought and approved in respect of the office; if registration and certification are deemed to be priority responsibilities of the registrar; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[27879/98]
Enda Kenny
Question:
329
Mr. Kenny
asked the
Minister for Health and Children
if he will approve the transfer of archival material over 70 years old on microfilm to the National Archives or to the National Library in view of cost cutting measures being sought within the General Register Office; his views on whether free public access to the microfilm records of births, marriages and deaths prior to 1928 in the National Archives or the National Library or regional archives throughout the country would permit the General Register Office to function effectively as a registration and certification service; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[27880/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 327 to 329 together.
The administration of the registration system, is statutorily a matter for An tArd-Chláraitheoir, Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and for registrars who operate under his general direction. The functions of An t-Árd Chláraitheoir include a certification function; an authorisation function; a custodian function in relation to certain records and an overall function as guarantor of the legal adequacy of the registration system. Registrars of births, deaths and marriages are obliged to register all births, deaths, and Roman Catholic marriages and stillbirths which occur within their districts and, in so doing, have the important function of creating evidence acceptable in court in relation to events which have a major significance in relation to an individual's civil status and to his rights and entitlements.
In addition, Registrars of Marriages appointed under the Marriages (Ireland) Act, 1844, carry out duties in relation to the taking of notice, the solemnisation and registration of marriages. All registrars are obliged to furnish An t-Árd Chláraitheoir with copies of entries in their registrars on a quarterly basis to enable him to compile a national record of all such events and construct a national index to his records.
All certified copies of individual register entries, i.e. certificates, which are issued from the General Register Office are impressed with the seal of An t-Árd Chláraitheoir. His records are direct copies of local register entries. An t-Árd Chláraitheoir is obliged to stand over and guarantee the authority of entries in the local registers of births, deaths and marriages, wherever they are effected, and must ensure that registration practices at all levels throughout the State meet the requirements laid down in the Registration Acts.
There is no provision under the Registration Acts for certificates to be issued other than by registrars of births, deaths and marriages, superintendent registrars, registrars of marriages and An t-Árd Chláraitheoir and it would neither be feasible from a practical or legal viewpoint to transfer registration records to the National Archive.
The structure of registration was originally based on transport and communication systems of the 19th century and is somewhat fragmented and cumbersome having regard to the needs and technology of the 20th century. A number of measures have been taken to rationalise the system. The number of districts has been substantially reduced from the initial 1,000 through rationalisation and amalgamation, particularly in recent years, to reduce the burden of administration, improve efficiency and prepare for the eventual computerisation of the registration process. At present there are 303 districts of registrars of births, deaths and marriages and there is potential to further reduce the number of districts to 120 in the medium term, provided local agreement can be achieved. In addition, there are 29 registrars of marriages appointed under the Act of 1844.
The Deputy will appreciate that the development of a modern registration structure will also require some change in the law to facilitate the restructuring of the role of the registrar, to permit more flexibility in the appointment of assistant registrars in the busier districts and to avail of the advantages offered by computerisation in relation to certificate production.
Registrars require an adequate knowledge of registration law, adequate guidance and training and appropriate interpersonal skills. Recent changes in the law in relation to stillbirths, marriage notifications and birth registration have provided an additional impetus to the training of registrars, which is provided by the General Register Office with the co-operation of the health boards. Registrars have been provided with easy-to-follow guidelines in relation to birth registration, stillbirth registration and marriage notification and the public have been provided with basic information in relation to the operation of the new legislation to facilitate effective and informed registration.
As the Deputy may be aware, the General Register Office archival project in Roscommon is currently engaged in a major project to computerise the records held by An t-Árd Chláraitheorí. The first phase in this operation involves the electronic imaging of the archival records of the office which go back to 1844 and the conversion of the index to these records to an electronic format. Most of the indexes to the records of births, deaths and marriages held in the General Register Office were in printed format only. This phase of the work will take between three to four years to complete.
A later stage of the project will include the development of a sophisticated retrieval system and the Deputy will appreciate that the new technology will provide opportunities for a much more efficient access, not only to the index, but also to the record itself from a number of locations. The flexibility afforded by computerisation will facilitate the transfer of the General Register Office to Roscommon as planned while retaining research facilities in Dublin. Matters such as the alternative means of access to indexes to the records through such bodies as the National Library or the National Archive or local bodies will also be considered at that juncture.
The General Register Office has within the past 12 months purchased seven new microfilm reader printers which has improved the quality of its photocopies and the efficiency of their production. A new file server has been commissioned to facilitate the loading of additional index material produced by the archive conversion project and there are plans to load additional such material in 1999. In recent weeks space has been made available for the expansion of the research facility in Dublin by the relocation of staff but some renovations and adjustments have to be made before this can be brought into operation.
However, because a significent proportion of indexes to the records are in paper format and because certificates must be written by hand, the certificate production of the General Register Office is currently highly dependent on human resources in the short term. Because of this, and because of increased demand for the authorisation function of An t-Árd Chláraitheoir, savings in manpower resources have been difficult to achieve.
The number of civil servants employed by the General Register Office is 67 and, in addition, there are 40 part-time trainees employed on the project in Roscommon. The annual personnel costs of the General Register Office is £1.1 million and, in addition, there are annual trainee costs, including grants for some materials and training of £267,000. Non-pay costs are of the order of £365,000, but this figure does not include some shared costs which could not be isolated, or certain one-off costs for technology.
The precise level of increase in fees, including fees for searches, certificates and marriages, is still under examination. Having regard for the need to put the funding of the service on a more structured basis, the length of time since the last increase in 1987, the increase in the costs of inputs in the interim and the requirement to recover a reasonable proportion of the direct costs of the service it will be appreciated that the present fee structure is seriously out of line with the direct costs of the service.
