Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

The Senator referred to the older legislation. There were no indices at the time and when they became available it was possible to search them manually. They are now being transferred to an electronic format. Perhaps I am presumptuous in believing that some prefer to be turning pages than checking information on a computer, but the exact same information will be made available in either case. The indices will be available locally, but electronically.

There was some concern about the back-up of the electronic system, but the copies will always be held centrally. If every light in the world went out, for example, we would still have the copies in the registrar's office.