Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Given the absence, for a variety of reasons, of census data from the 19th century, a reliable census substitute becomes very important. The key resource in this regard is the register of births, marriages and deaths which, although not comprehensive, provides a great deal of information from 1864 onwards. The last Social Welfare Bill provided for the transfer of the indexes, and I understand they are already online on the website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Has there been any progress in making the actual records available? In Northern Ireland, for instance, the records, which are held at Chichester Street in Belfast, are going online by the end of the year.

The hit rate for the Century Ireland website and the 1901 and 1911 censuses shows there is a huge opportunity and a very decent income to be made from transferring the historical records online. We might follow the example of Britain where a threshold of 100 years was chosen for births, 75 years for marriages and 50 years for deaths. Making those records available as a type of census substitute for the 30 or 40 years in question would be a game changer from a genealogy perspective. I do not understand why there has not been a rush to do it, particularly when a great deal of the work has already been undertaken over several years in Roscommon. The income it could generate would be of great benefit to the Department. People are accustomed to paying to access the records in the Irish Life Centre. We have at our disposal a really decent census substitute and a willingness among the public to pay to access it.