Vol. 503 No. 6
179 Ms O. Mitchell asked the Minister for Health and Children the plans, if any, in place to improve the physical and technological facilities available in the General Register Office to improve the service to Irish and foreign genealogists. [11003/99]
The administration of the registration system is a matter for An tArd-Chláraitheoir, the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, and for local registrars who operate under his general direction.
In my reply of 22 April 1999, in relation to steps being taken to maintain and improve indexes to the records of births, deaths and marriages, I referred to the special project for the capture of the records and associated indexes in an electronic format which has been ongoing in Roscommon for some time. The first stage of this work which involves scanning the records and indexes from 1844 is making steady progress and the project team will shortly be in the position to begin the development of a retrieval package. When this archival records project is completed, it will improve the efficiency, flexibility, access and management of the records and the associated indexes and will provide potential for the development of a range of services, which would not be possible in a system reliant on paper based indexes. I am sure that the Deputy will appreciate that this will be of benefit to all customers of the registration services throughout the country, including those who currently avail of the services of the research room in the General Register Office.
In the interim I understand that the data from the indexes to births which have been scanned, will soon be available to augment the current computer aided retrieval system in operation in the General Register Office but some adjustments will have to be made to the current system to facilitate this work. In addition, plans are in hand to relocate the public counter on the first floor in Joyce House to provide additional space in the public search room.
