Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 35:

In page 51, subsection (1), after line 48, to insert the following paragraph:

"(c) on payment to him or her of the prescribed fee (if any) and subject to subsections (3) and (4), shall be entitled to, subject to such conditions (if any) as may stand determined by an tArd-Chláraitheoir (without the need of recourse to any index) search any

(i) register of births (whether in original or other form) currently in the custody of a Superintendent Registrar or registrar and compiled one hundred or more years before the year in which such application is made;

(ii) register of marriages (whether in original or other form) currently in the custody of a Superintendent Registrar or registrar and compiled sixty or more years before the year in which such application is made;

(iii) register of deaths (whether in original or other form) currently in the custody of a Superintendent Registrar or registrar and compiled twenty or more years before the year in which such application is made.".

These three amendments, all of which deal with searches, aim to deal with some concerns raised by people who work in this area. There is a concern that the existing right to search locally and nationally could be taken away because of this section. An idiot-proof note I have received in respect of amendment No. 35 states:

Currently, under sections 50 and 52 of the Births and Deaths Registration (Ireland) Act 1880, searches may be conducted at the index volumes held centrally and in both indexes and register books held locally. If effective searching for both genealogical and legal purposes is to be promoted, then it is imperative that searching actual register books held locally should continue.

There is a concern that if amendment No. 35 is not accepted, the practice currently in place will be discontinued. If the Minister is telling me she believes such a practice will continue and that people will have the absolute right to search locally in all their local offices, I will accept her word. One must question the purpose of the GRO in ending this provision. Does the Minister still insist on bringing forward an amendment to allow all register books currently held locally to be centralised out of public access in Roscommon town?

Amendment No. 36, in my party's name, proposes that a public genealogical search facility be established and maintained in the city of Dublin.