Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 10 Dec 2002

Vol. 559 No. 1

Written Answers. - Decentralisation Programme.

Eamon Gilmore

Ceist:

340 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Health and Children when the long promised Civil Registration Bill will be published giving effect to the 1992 announcement regarding the decentralisation of the General Register Office from Dublin to Roscommon; the costs to date of the relocation and computerisation of the General Register Office records; and if he will commission a value for money report on the whole project since the November 1992 announcement. [25922/02]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

The registration of births, marriages and deaths and the maintenance of permanent records of these events by An tArd-Chláraitheoir are governed by the Registration of Births and Deaths Acts 1863 to 2002 and the Marriages Acts of 1844 and 1863. This legislation also provides for the location of the General Register Office. A Civil Registration Bill currently being drafted by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel will provide a new legal framework for the registration of births, marriages and deaths. The passing of this legislation is one element of the civil registration modernisation programme which is a joint project between my Department and the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

The modernisation project also involves the development of a new organisation structure and business processes for the civil registration service and the introduction of modern technology. The Bill will be presented to the House shortly. In the interim, the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2002, includes a number of provisions to facilitate the maintenance of civil regis tration records in an electronic format and the production of certificates using modern technology. The decision to decentralise the General Register Office and to computerise its archival records – all births and deaths records from 1863 and marriage records from 1844 – and the associated indexes in the special project located in Roscommon was announced in 1992. The filming and scanning of an estimated 21 million register entries to provide a database of images of the records and the conversion of the printed indexes, to an electronic format began in 1996. The costs associated with this work to date are estimated at €8.1 million including €1.01 million in respect of rental and fitting out of accommodation.

Considerable progress has been made in the scanning of the original documents. Particular attention has been devoted to the quality assurance of both the images and the indexes. It is anticipated that the work will be completed next year.

Question No. 341 answered with Question No. 310.