Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I compliment Senator Ó Murchú on introducing the Bill. Every hurling match I ever saw between Tipperary and Wexford always ended with people shaking hands as the best of friends. The matches were hard enough fought but I hope this will be an occasion when the unity of the two great counties will be manifest.

We are faced with the 130-year rule because, as every speaker this afternoon has so eloquently said, we could not have a census in 1916 and 1921 so we need to get at the 1926 census because of the gaps that are there. The historians are effectively held off between now and 2026. When we discuss statistics and the Minister of State comes to the House, the name of Garret FitzGerald comes up. He was there working on who was speaking Irish in what counties and so on and used the assets of the Central Statistics Office to write most interesting articles.

The question raised by Senator Ó Murchú related to west Cork during that period and that question has been raised in respect of other parts of the country. How much of the decline in the Protestant population was due to various events? Steve McDonagh wrote the most interesting account of the departure from Offaly of the ancestors of what is now the Obama family. He goes through the different parts of the US they were found in. At the end, he is pessimistic. He wonders how a population that was 10.3% in 1911 ended up at 3% today. The Orange Order visited this House. It is assumed as part of the order's view of history that this community was burnt out or forced out and that is part of the problem with marching. The Orange Order is trying to reclaim territory in Northern Ireland through marches. Perhaps the census will show that these were voluntary unions between people and that people voluntarily transferred their families and businesses to Canada and large parts of the US because there is a huge Scots-Irish dimension there - a larger one than the southern Irish one. Discovering these things - the history of the Kearneys and Healys who were the ancestors of President Barack Obama; the work of people like Peter Hart and David Fitzpatrick; the very pessimistic work referred to by Senator Ó Murchú in west Cork; the importance of us understanding that there was a strong Loyalist population in Dublin alongside a Socialist one, an element that always features in the plays of Seán O'Casey; and Senator Gilroy's account of Athboy and how he found some folklore which people had communicated to Proinsias Ó Conluain and other archivists - is fascinating. It comes in the context of Friday's meeting, the interest in genealogy, the success of The Gathering and so many people coming back.

Could it be sponsored? We have a very large and prosperous IT sector and it would be a great project for it to undertake. It would be good for the sector's image. In respect of the diaspora meetings organised by the Government recently - I understand there will be another one soon at Trinity College - we have a fascinating history. I found papers by John Kells Ingram in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. It is regrettable that, as Senator van Turnhout noted, so much of that material has been destroyed. There does not seem to be any breach of faith involved or a prospect that we would embarrass people. I am sure the Minster of State will be most sensitive if it was to cause distress. Having no census in 1916 and 1921 and following the events of the Civil War, people wanted to put a good deal of history away because they did not want to divide the country and its people any further. We are at a sufficient distance now and have made so much progress through things like the Good Friday Agreement and the coming together of all the people on the island, with immense credit due to the former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and the former US President, Bill Clinton, for the help they gave us, that it is time to look at what really happened in Ireland between 1911 and 1926. I commend Senator Ó Murchú on bringing this Bill forward and his most helpful notes. We are willing to face up to things we did not face up to before in the spirit of friendship and in the spirit of what Senator Ó Murchú organised recently in Derry where the UK city of culture was also the site of the Fleadh Ceoil and where apparently everybody got on splendidly. There might have been things relating to the 1926 census and the period between 1911 and 1926 of which people were afraid.

We were almost there in 1993 when, according to Senator Ó Murchú's very helpful note, it appeared that former Minister, Noel Dempsey, and Dr. Maurice Manning were virtually ad idem. The only difference between the Minister and another very eminent scholar was whether the period of closure should be 50 or 70 years. We are finding out more about ourselves and modern historians and archivists have much to offer. There is interest from outside Ireland such as from Irish people in Canada, the US and the UK. How many people discovered their Irishness through Jack Charlton and were delighted to play on our national team? There is a significant coming together there.

I hope the Minister of State will be able to facilitate that. If there are disadvantages we might, as Senator MacSharry proposed, look at them on Committee Stage. This would be a wonderful way to celebrate the centenary of so many historic events and I ask the Minister of State to support the Bill.