Mr. Kieran Feely:

I thank the committee for inviting me to address it on this important topic. Before dealing with the specifics of genealogy as it concerns the GRO, I will set out some of the history and structure of civil registration in Ireland.
Let us consider the nature and purpose of a system of civil registration. The UN defines a system of civil registration as "the continuous, permanent, compulsory and universal recording of the occurrence and characteristics of vital events" primarily for the purpose of providing legal documents and to be a source of vital statistics. The system in Ireland complies with this definition.
The GRO and the system of civil registration as we know it was first established in 1845 following the passing of the Marriages (Ireland) Act 1844. That Act provided for the registration of civil and religious marriages, excluding Catholic marriages. The system was extended to encompass Catholic marriages, births and deaths in 1864. At the time, the national system of civil registration was administered by the Registrar General through the GRO, while local registration services were administered through the poor law unions. Local registration functions were taken on by the local authorities when they were established in the 1890s. Registration of adoptions was provided for under the Adoption Act 1952. Responsibility for local registration services was transferred from the local authorities to the health boards in 1972 and to the HSE on its establishment in 2004. Registration of stillbirths was introduced in 1994. Other significant developments included the requirement to give three months notice of intention to marry, which was introduced in 1995, and the assignment of a surname at birth, which was introduced in 1997. The GRO moved from the then Department of Health and Children to the then Department of Social and Family Affairs in 2008. Civil partnership registration was introduced in 2011.
In 2000, a radical programme of reform was embarked upon jointly by the then Department of Health and Children and the then Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs. This entailed the design and development of new business processes and procedures and enhanced management structures; the introduction of modern technology; the capture and storage in electronic format of all historical paper-based records from 1845; and the reform of the legislation to underpin the delivery of a modern service and to facilitate the wider e-Government agenda.
The Civil Registration Act 2004 underpins the reform programme. It provides for enhanced management structures and for more efficient processes and procedures; a more active citizenship by requiring births, stillbirths and deaths to be registered by parents and relatives; streamlined preliminaries for marriage; a system of marriage licences and the giving of notice of intention to marry in person; the establishment of a register of solemnisers for religious and civil solemnisers of marriage; a greater choice of venue for civil marriages; electronic registration; and the capture of additional data in the registers, for example, PPS numbers.
The civil registration computer system, CRCS, was developed to replace the manual registers. The system was first deployed in 2003 and was rolled out nationwide by the end of 2004. Since then, the registration of all vital events has been electronic. Key features of the system include the creation of a national vital events database that facilitates online retrieval of registration records; the capture and storage in electronic format of historic records, thereby facilitating the production of certificates of all vital events; the online registration of life events; the use of electronic pads to capture informants' signatures; and interagency data transfers.
I will now move on to matters more relevant to genealogy services, the purpose of today's discussion. Critical to the modernisation programme was the separate, but related project to capture all of the manual records dating back to 1845 in electronic format. Each register entry has a corresponding index entry to facilitate efficient searching. This was the system that was in place from the commencement of registration in 1845. The project entailed the conversion of 27 million index records from manual and older electronic database sources to a single, comprehensive database of index records; the microfilming and scanning of 5 million register pages and creation of a quality electronic image of each page; the quality assurance and validation of electronic records; and the matching of index data to the appropriate register page. This was an incredibly complex and painstaking enterprise, given the volume of records involved and the fact that there was no precedent project to call on for guidance. All of these records are now available in electronic format. The manual registers are stored in a purpose-built, atmosphere-controlled facility in Roscommon town.
The last phase of the project was the conversion of these data to the live CRCS environment. To date, all births from 1864 have been converted to the live environment. Marriages from 1903 to date and deaths from 1924 to date have also been converted. These conversions are adequate to meet most business needs. Obviously, there are significant gaps in the availability of clean data in the live environment going back to 1845 in respect of marriages and 1864 in respect of deaths. It is estimated that it will take approximately three years to complete the conversion of the remaining marriage records. Unfortunately, we have not been in a position to progress work on the conversion of the deaths records, but we hope to do so shortly. We hope to be in a position to work on the conversion of the deaths data concurrently with marriages.
The civil registration modernisation programme has been recognised internationally as an example of excellence in public sector reform. In 2003, the programme was awarded winner in the category "Business Applications of IT Services" and overall "Bronze Medal for Business Innovation" at The Wall Street JournalEuropean Innovation Awards in London. In 2004, a Computerworld honours commemorative medallion was awarded at the Computerworld honours ceremony in San Francisco for the originality of concept, breadth of vision and significance of its benefit to society. The programme exhibited at the European Institute of Public Administration, EIPA, e-government conference in Italy in 2003 as an example of best practice under the theme "A better life for European Citizens".

The programme also exhibited at the Third Quality Conference for Public Administration in the EU in the Netherlands in 2004. Access to civil registration records is provided for under section 61 of the Civil Registration Act 2004. This section provides that any person may, on application in writing and on payment of the prescribed fee search an index to a register and obtain a copy or a certified copy of a register entry specified by that person. Copies or certified copies may be had from any registrar’s office, from the GRO or may be ordered online at www.certificates.ie.
There is a GRO research facility in Dublin which enables members of the public to search all of the indexes of births, deaths and marriages. Copies of entries may be obtained at the research facility in the former social welfare office in Werburgh Street, which is located at the western perimeter of Dublin Castle. I am aware of criticism of the facility during the pre-Christmas hearings and direct from members of the public. Provision of accommodation is the responsibility of the Office of Public Works. My understanding is that the OPW took advantage of the ending of a lease in the Irish Life Centre to relocate the GRO research facility to a building owned by the State, thereby achieving considerable savings for the taxpayer. This move is in accordance with Government policy. The issues raised have been brought to the attention of the OPW.
The availability of electronic records is essential for the development of modern genealogy services. While the Department of Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht is responsible for national genealogy policy, the GRO has an important role to play in the implementation of that policy. As stated at the pre-Christmas hearings, a memorandum of understanding has been entered into between my office and the Department of Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht for the provision of all index data relating to marriages from 1845, births and deaths from 1864 and civil partnerships from 2011 for the purpose of making the data available online at irishgenealogy.ie.Section 61 of the 2004 Act was amended by section 20 of the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2013 to permit the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to facilitate access to the index data through the irishgenealogy.iewebsite.
All of the requisite data has been provided by GRO to the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and it is my understanding that the online search facility will go live on the irishgenealogy.iewebsite within a matter of months. As for future developments, I understand that the forthcoming Civil Registration (Amendment) Bill will seek to provide for certain historic records to be made available direct to the public through an online search facility. It is proposed to make available records in respect of births more than 100 years old, marriages more than 75 years old and deaths more than 50 years old. I understand that the Minister for Social Protection hopes to publish the Bill later in the year.
I take this opportunity to pay tribute to colleagues past and present who have made an enormous contribution to the creation of a civil registration system fit for modern society.