Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We will consider how to develop a plan to capture the full value of our genealogical heritage with our first group of witnesses. Is that agreed? Agreed.

I welcome the following witnesses to the meeting: from the Genealogical Society of Ireland - Mr. Michael Merrigan, general secretary, Mr Tom Conlon, director of Internet services, and Mr. Aiden Feerick, society member; from the Council of Irish Genealogical Organisations and the Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland - Mr. Colm Cochrane, Mr. Steven Smyrl, Mr. Paddy Waldron, Ms Rose Sibbett and Mr. Rob Davison; on behalf of the Irish Family History Foundation, Ms Karel Kiely, secretary, Ms Nora O'Meara, financial controller, Mr. Fintan Mullen, board member, and an tUasal Seán Ó Súilleabháin, board member; Ms Kiely is also manager of rootsireland.ie and a County Kildare genealogist; Ms O'Meara is also a north Tipperary genealogist; Mr. Mullen is chief executive officer of the Ulster Historical Foundation and an tUasal Ó Súilleabháin is also the former County Leitrim librarian; also present is Mr. John Grenham, author and genealogist. I thank the witnesses for their attendance today. I propose to hear from the witnesses in the order that I have introduced them. Is that agreed? Agreed. The session will continue until 3.45 p.m. when we suspend. We will then resume at 4.15 p.m. with our second session. Is that agreed? Agreed.

By virtue of section 17(2)(l) of the Defamation Act 2009, witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of their evidence to the committee. However, if they are directed by it to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and continue to so do, they are entitled thereafter only to qualified privilege in respect of their evidence. They are directed that only evidence connected with the subject matter of these proceedings is to be given and asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, they should not criticise or make charges against a person or an entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable. I advise that any opening statement submitted to the committee may be published on its website after the meeting.

Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the Houses or an official either by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.

Before calling on the first witness I wish to make some comments. Genealogy has, in recent years, become a fascination for Irish people, as indeed for people worldwide. People want to know more about their forebears and their origins; where they come from and what was happening back then. While many people engage in genealogical research as a personal hobby there is a very important role for the professional genealogist in conducting research for others and in providing information in both hard copy form and also on the world wide web. The world wide web in particular has an important role to play in the study of genealogy, providing information, research facilities and databases to people across the globe. Mr. or Ms Murphy in Tasmania can research their great-great grandparent in Cork without leaving their home in Hobart. Genealogy has many different aspects to it catering for individuals and people with a common ancestry as, for example, the MacCarthy clan or people originating in a particular part of Ireland; for example a town, a townland or an offshore island community. There are also family history societies that facilitate members by sharing knowledge, indexing records, publishing journals and sponsoring conference and site visits. Given Ireland’s worldwide diaspora these developments can make an important contribution to enhancing our tourism sector and as an industry with major potential growth can contribute to creating employment in Ireland both in genealogical research and in encouraging people like the Murphys in Hobart to visit Ireland. I now call on Mr. Merrigan to address the committee.