Fiach MacConghail (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Yes, if the Acting Chairman does not mind. I apologise for being late and not hearing the guests' presentations. I was detained in the Seanad for a vote. I wish to declare a potential conflict of interest. I am the son of a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland. As director of the Abbey Theatre, I am also a member of the Council of National Cultural Institutions. Therefore, I am a colleague of Ms Fiona Ross, director of the National Library. The Abbey is funded indirectly and directly through the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Those are a myriad of potential conflicts of interest, but that will not stop me from making my comments or giving certain people a hard time.

I have a few questions for Mr. Lonergan. I wish to express major congratulations to the Department on the development of the irishgenealogy.ie website. That is of tremendous benefit. I have heard Ms Catríona Crowe say how important it is. We also heard that at our previous briefings on Tuesday. We must acknowledge the important contribution it will make, and the Minister is driving it. I wanted to put that on the record.

Under phase II of the policy, in terms of the macro issue, arising from what previous witnesses have said, there seems to be a creative tension between private organisations wanting and needing, quite rightly, to make money from genealogy and sustain jobs, and the issue of the availability of these records free of charge for citizens. On Tuesday Mr. Donovan said that there should there should be no such tension in that everything should be free and available, and then people will be able to make money on that in any event. He was very clear that there was no tension.

Without putting words in Mr. Lonergan's mouth, in the context of his phrase "whether bodies should be able to levy a charge generated strong views," I would argue that phase 2 of the policy is not complete because, as Ms Catríona Crowe and previous witnesses mentioned, some particular records, including birth and death records, are not available free of charge. The index might be available but the certificates are not available free of charge. I would like clarification from the Department on whether that remains a stumbling block. It would be fair to say that the more frank the members of this committee are, the better we can come up with our own understanding of this issue.

I would like clarification from Mr. Lonergan with regard to the implementation of phase 1 of the policy whether everything is free in terms of Irish genealogy requests and particularly in the General Register Office, because in her presentation Ms Catríona Crowe stated - I do not want to put words in her mouth - that certificates up to 1914 should be made available free of charge. She later made the assumption that some people have to make money on that also, which is not a problem. The same applies to the Catholic parish records. I would like clarification on that.

I have a particular question for Ms Catríona Crowe because she did not mention the 1926 census. That was a theme at the meeting on Tuesday. This may sound like a leaving certificate question but I would like if she could outline, in order of importance, what she believes are the most important records that should be made available sequentially free of charge to citizens. Where does the 1926 census come into that? If there was an amendment to the Statistics Act changing the 100-year provision to 70 years, and people felt the 1926 census should be put online, what would be the implications of that in terms of resources?