Mr. Kevin Lonergan:

The Department welcomes the opportunity to address the Joint Committee on the Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht on the subject of developing a plan to capture the full value of our genealogical heritage. This is a subject which has assumed increasing importance in recent years particularly with the rise in what is termed roots tourism.

Genealogy is an important way of connecting with those abroad who wish to trace their roots and also permitting those in Ireland to establish their family history. In this regard it can also be of significant economic benefit to the country in the development of cultural tourism and in attracting visitors to Ireland to trace their ancestry, visit their ancestral homes and so on.

However, genealogy is also immensely important from a social history perspective. Ireland is unique among western nations in its loss of significant quantities of archival records due to revolution and civil war. Church records predate the commencement of State registration of births, marriages and deaths by up to 100 years and by up to 200 years in more exceptional cases. The records thus cover a period from the penal times to the aftermath of the Famine. They represent a treasure trove for those wishing to undertake family history research. They also represent an invaluable link in the chain of Irish genealogical records. They are an immensely valuable tool to facilitate social history research, as they are a major source for social, economic, demographic and religious historians. The work of these historians suffers from a lack of easy access to those records, which are the only surviving micro-demographic material for the whole of the country in the pre-Famine period. It is therefore of importance for the State that there would be a comprehensive set of records online that would be available to both potential visitors to the country and family historians as well as social, economic, demographic and religious historians.

The Government is well aware of the importance of our genealogical heritage and it included in its programme for Government a commitment that the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht would develop a national genealogy policy. It is against this background that the Minister brought proposals to Government for a national policy for genealogy. Those proposals were accepted by the Government at its meeting on 18 December 2012. The aim of the Government policy is to bring some coherence to the area, particularly for those with no genealogical research experience. The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has been engaged in the implementation of this policy since then.

In September 2011, the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Jimmy Deenihan, convened a meeting for groups and individuals who are professionally involved in the provision, dissemination and use of genealogical records. The purpose of that meeting was to establish the current position regarding the provision of genealogical services and to discuss options for further development of these services. Each of the groups present at the meeting made a presentation. That meeting highlighted the wide variety of groups involved in the area of genealogy ranging from amateur genealogists to professional genealogists to locally based groups as well as national and international organisations. A wide variety of issues were highlighted on the day. However, it is fair to say that the issue of whether records should be available to access free of charge or whether bodies should be able to levy a charge generated strong views. The Minister welcomed the attendance and interest of all bodies and indicated that this was the beginning of a process which would lead to the development of a national policy for genealogy

Following this meeting the Department reviewed the position regarding the provision of genealogy services in Ireland and formulated proposals for a national policy for genealogy, which were then submitted to Government by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. At its meeting on 18 December 2013 the Government approved the plans of the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht for the implementation of a national policy for genealogy in line with the programme for Government by way of the following phased approach. Under phase 1 it is proposed to make available online the genealogical records of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and of key agencies within its ambit, namely, the National Library of Ireland and the National Archives of Ireland, by developing the website irishgenealogy.ieas a virtual entry point and a portal for those wishing to search for genealogical records. Under phase 2 it is proposed to advance agreement with other State entities, notably the General Register Office, to facilitate access to its primary historic records, which are register entries of births, deaths and marriages, through the Irish Genealogy website, to advance the enhancement of the existing National Genealogical Office as a joint enterprise between the National Library of Ireland and the National Archives of Ireland, and, in that context, to enter into discussions with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport for the purposes of examining potential synergies in regard to the longer-term plans for a national diaspora centre. Under phase 3 it is proposed to enter into negotiations with non-State bodies holding genealogy records, with a view to enabling access to them through the Irish Genealogy website. This would include exploring the option of charging for certain records if a commercial partnership were entered into.

Following the agreement by the Government, the Department immediately embarked on plans for the redesign of the irishgenealogy.iewebsite to become the virtual entry point and portal for those wishing to look for genealogical records online. The aim was to launch this in time for The Gathering initiative. The revamped website was launched by the Minister on 26 March 2013. The new web portal enables visitors to the site to search genealogy records from a number of online sources. A link brings the visitor directly to the results of the search. Now for the first time, one search on the Irish Genealogy website willl enable the visitor to establish whether relevant records are available in a number of online sources such as the church records currently on the website, namely, the Tithe Applotments and Griffiths valuations onto the Census 1901 and 1911 records. Another major addition is the link to the American emigration records of Castle Garden and Ellis Island. Records such as those are also vital as those are the first records the new emigrants completed in the new world and are a great starting point for those seeking to research their ancestry. This revamped website has been a huge success and has made an important contribution to the recent The Gathering initiative.

The next stage of the national genealogy policy is to advance agreement with other State entities to facilitate access to other important primary historic records. The Department has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the General Register Office, GRO, which operates under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection and has responsibility for the administration of the Civil Registration Service in Ireland. Under this agreement the GRO will provide all available index data relating to the birth registers from 1864, marriages from 1845, deaths from 1864 and civil partnerships from 2011 to this Department and this information will then be made available for online searching through the Irish Genealogy website. This agreement is regarded as being a major step forward and it will provide an opportunity to access the full set of records online for the first time. Subject to funding being available, the Department will proceed with the remaining aspects of the national genealogy policy.

As Ms Crowe has outlined the developments on the census site, I will not read that section of the presentation. The Department is satisfied that considerable progress has been made over the past number of years in the area of genealogy. Improved services are being offered, through our website www.irishgenealogy.iebut also by the National Library and National Archives. This has made a major contribution to the genealogy landscape and to the cultural offering of the country. In the longer term the Department is available to enter into discussions with other genealogy records providers, either commercial or voluntary, with a view to improving the product on offer still further.