Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 258: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the reason there are no genealogy facilities or room available at the new General Register Office in Roscommon town; if she will provide such facilities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32584/05]

Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 259: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the number of persons who avail of the genealogy facilities at the general register offices in Dublin on an annual basis; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32585/05]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 258 and 259 together.

Statutory responsibility for the administration of civil registration in Ireland, which includes the provision for facilities for genealogical or family research, rests with an tArd-Chláraitheoir, the Registrar-General. His office, Oifig an Ard-Chláraitheora, the General Register Office, GRO, is the central repository for all records relating to the civil registration of births, deaths, marriages, domestic adoptions and stillbirths in the State.

The modernisation programme for civil registration includes the capture and storage in electronic format of all historical paper-based records from 1845, when civil registration was first introduced in Ireland. Civil registration initially applied to non-Roman Catholic marriages only and was extended in 1864 to include births, deaths and Roman Catholic marriages. Thus far, birth records from 1864 to date, death records from 1924 to date and marriage records from 1920 to date are available on a live computer system. The remainder of the data — death records from 1864 to 1923 and marriage records from 1845 to 1919 — have been captured electronically but a substantial amount of data cleaning and conversion work is required before it can be released to the computer system.

I have made inquiries of an tArd Chláraitheoir regarding the matters raised by the Deputy and he advises me that the number of persons who avail of the genealogical or family research facility maintained by him in Dublin varies from year to year but that the number, on average, is in the order of 15,000 persons per annum.

Searches of GRO records involves accessing index books to records of births, deaths and marriages; searching these indices to identify specific entries in the records; and, if required, purchasing either photocopies or certified copies of the identified entries in the records. This facility is also available at superintendent registrars' offices in respect of events registered within their districts.

The head office of the GRO relocated from Dublin to Roscommon in April of this year, a move which was in line with Government policy on the decentralisation of Government offices. Accommodation provided at GRO, Roscommon, includes accommodation for a genealogical or family research facility which will be commissioned on completion of a major project to create, as part of the modernisation programme, an electronic database of the index books to the records of births, deaths and marriages maintained in the research facility at GRO, Dublin.

From a research perspective, the creation of an electronic database of indices will facilitate easier and more efficient record searches. It will also facilitate the extension of the availability of the indices beyond the single physical repository at GRO, Dublin, to the research facility at GRO, Roscommon, and the various HSE registration offices nationwide where civil registration is carried out. It is also the intention that the database will be extended in due course to facilitate on-line research. Planning for these developments is under way and I am satisfied that substantial benefits from its implementation in due course will accrue to professional genealogists and private individuals alike.