Mr. Fintan Mullen:

Senator Ó Murchú asked whether there was any resistance to North-South co-operation. It is pleasing that there is a positive attitude towards co-operation, North and South. As the Senator noted, however, people have not always been able to think what the initial co-operation would entail and are sometimes left scratching their heads. We have found from our work with North-South bodies, such as Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster Scots Agency, that they see family histories as an easy win when they are otherwise dealing with contentious issues. I recently joined the round table of the community relations council and the Heritage Lottery Foundation on the decade of commemorations. This is an emotive and sensitive issue in the North and people are keen to take these easy opportunities. Family history has proven to be an easy win because we can approach these historical subjects at the micro level of who, when and where. We have working on a project with Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster Scots Agency to investigate aspects of the Ulster plantation and the various migrant communities in Ulster alongside those who were already there. There is great potential for developing closer working relationships and exploring educational opportunities.

With regard to digitisation, the Irish Family History Foundation has no objection in principle to posting images of original records online. Much of the data we hold were captured in an era when the technology was not as far advanced as it is now. We always want to work with the permission of the churches, which is not to say others who have digitised records did not have permission. As a body working at an all-Ireland level we have always been careful to bring the churches with us.

I am not entirely certain that the four centres in Northern Ireland are supported through the library network. The Ulster Historical Foundation is a completely self-sustaining body. We do not receive public moneys in support of our work.