SEAN MURPHY,
Madam, - Recent correspondence has highlighted the appalling research conditions existing in the General Register Office. Birth, marriage and death records are crucial sources for genealogists in any jurisdiction, but even more so in Ireland where most pre-1901 census records have not survived.
Leaving aside the question of why the Department of Health continues to control the historical archive of vital records dating from 1845, are there any practical measures which could alleviate the GRO problem in the short term? In England microform copies of the indexes to births, marriages and deaths are made widely available through the Family History Centre in London, larger libraries around the country and in some other locations. Why has the GRO persistently set its face against a similar measure in Ireland, and why does it stubbornly continue to require increasingly frustrated and angry fee-paying patrons to queue for the single printed copies of indexes in Lombard Street East?
In the longer term, the solution to catering for the large and growing genealogical demand for access to Irish vital records lies in making them accessible over the Internet on a self-financing fee-paying basis, as has been done in Scotland, a country with a comparable - but much better cared-for record base. - Yours, etc.,
SEAN MURPHY,
Cliff Road,
Bray, Co Wicklow.