The National Library of Ireland is a statutorily independent body and the Board of the Library is responsible for making decisions in relation to the collections. While my Department provides funding to the national cultural institutions, including the National Library, the management and board of each institution are responsible for all operational matters and for determining spending priorities, based on the resources available to them.
The decision to publish online images from the Catholic Parish Register microfilms was taken by the Board and management of the National Library. The launch of the new resource on 8 July will be the culmination of over 3 years of digitisation work by the Library.
The National Library has indicated that the primary purpose of the current project is to improve access to these records for people abroad, as well as Irish citizens, by making them available online. A secondary consideration is the preservation of the records. I am advised that, at present, the microfilms records in the Library have to be handled in the reading room and placed in a microfiche machine to enable users to examine the records. Placing them online will help prevent further damage to the records and will also reduce the resources required by the Library in the reading room to facilitate the large numbers of users who wish to view the parish records.
I understand that the National Library holds only Catholic Parish Registers in its collection and not the church records of any other religious denomination.
I understand also from the Library that the images are being published under a non-commercial reuse licence. This precludes any organisation from using the images for commercial purposes.
This new digital resource will help people at home and abroad who are interested in tracing their ancestry. The website provides access to church records dating back up to 270 years and includes details like the dates of baptisms and marriages, and the names of the key people involved. The records feature the baptisms of some very well known historical figures, such as the 1916 Leaders, Padraig Pearse and Thomas McDonagh.
Making this kind of material available online should help to boost genealogy tourism, and will complement the work of local historical centres in communities around the country. As we approach the centenary of the 1916 Rising next year, I am keen to make as much historical material as possible available online, so we can encourage people around the world to reconnect with their Irish roots.
