Conor Lenihan
Ceist:383 Mr. C. Lenihan asked the Minister for Health and Children if his attention has been drawn to the severe overcrowding and limited space at the General Register Office, Dublin 2. [8307/99]
Written Answers. - General Register Offices.
Conor Lenihan
Ceist:384 Mr. C. Lenihan asked the Minister for Health and Children the extra resources, if any, he will give to the General Register Office in Lombard Street, Dublin 2. [8308/99]
Conor Lenihan
Ceist:385 Mr. C. Lenihan asked the Minister for Health and Children if his attention has been drawn to the increased number of visitors seeking marriage and death records at the General Register Office and the pressure this is putting on staff and those seeking information. [8309/99]
Conor Lenihan
Ceist:386 Mr. C. Lenihan asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will computerise all births, marriages and death records in order that this service can be decentralised in the future. [8310/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 383, 384, 385 and 386 together.
The administration of the registration system, including the services and facilities provided at Joyce House is statutorily a matter for An tArd-Chláraitheoir (Registrar-General) of Births, Deaths and Marriages and for the superintendent registrar, Dublin, and registrars, who operate under his general direction.
There are two separate offices located at Joyce House issuing certificates of births, deaths and marriages, the General Register Office and the above-mentioned superintendent registrar's office on the ground floor, which provides certificates for all births, deaths and Roman Catholic marriages occurring within the Dublin city and county area.
There have been some difficulties with these services from time to time but a number of measures have been taken to improve the situation. The Eastern Health Board, which is responsible for the administration of the superintendent registrar's office, has secured a lease on a premises adjoining the offices in Lombard Street. The necessary refurbishment has been completed and this building will open within the next couple of weeks. Registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriages, who are currently located in temporary accommodation on the third floor in Joyce House will be relocated into the new accommodation, which has been specially adapted to ensure that people are enabled to conduct sensitive registration matters with an appropriate degree of privacy. The board has also taken steps to improve staffing levels in the superintendent registrar's office in order to improve the rate of production of certificates.
In May 1998, my Department made the above mentioned accommodation available on the third floor in Joyce House to enable Registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriages to vacate space on the ground floor of that office. The provision of this accommodation on the ground floor facilitated the extension of the waiting area in the superintendent registrar's office and improved waiting facilities for applicants for certificates. The registrars were moved to more spacious temporary accommodation and this ensured a greater level of privacy and comfort to people registering births and deaths, than had previously been available.
The transfer of the registrars to the new building will facilitate further improvements within the General Register Office itself. The improvements planned include the extension of the present public search room to cater for the increased interest in family research. I also understand that the General Register Office is currently experiencing some delays in responding to postal applications but that additional resources have been provided to resolve this particular problem.
As the Deputy may be aware, the General Register Office archive conversion project is currently under way in Roscommon. This project involves the capture of the records of over 150 years of births, deaths and marriages and associated indexes. It will be appreciated that the computerisation of these records and indexes will make a major contribution to the delivery of a flexible, effective and efficient service. It is intended that when this work is completed, including the development of a sophisticated retrieval system that the General Register Office will relocate to Roscommon. However, a facility for research will also be retained in Dublin.
In addition to the above-mentioned computerisation of the archival records of the General Register Office, my Department, together with the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs is currently engaged in planning the technological, legislative and structural changes necessary for the computerisation of the registration process.