I propose to take Questions Nos. 666 and 667 together.
Provision has been made in the recent Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013 to allow the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to act as agents for the Registrar General to provide access to the indexes of births, deaths and marriages online. The Department has been considering the issue of making certain historic civil registration records available to the public through an on-line search facility in conjunction with the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, and has met with a number of stakeholders with a view to introducing measures to allow this. I hope to introduce legislation to enable this facility shortly.
At present the General Register Office operates a research room in the Irish Life Mall, Dublin where the public can search indexes and request copies of certificates from the registers.
The income derived from the operation of, and the costs associated with, the research room for the years 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 (to date) are indicated in the following table:
Year
|
Income from Research Room
|
Cost of Service
|
2010
|
€327,408.00
|
€387,689.36
|
2011
|
€347,526.00
|
€372,353.71
|
2102
|
€329,480.00
|
€351,901.25
|
2013 (to date)
|
€161,816.00
|
€189,152.15
|
The matter of providing for fees to be paid for access to indexes and records online is being considered at present.
The Department is considering making records available in a digitised format but, as yet, no conclusions have been made in this regard.
I am aware the General Records Office of Northern Ireland plans to provide an online facility to search indexes and historic records.