Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 285: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason the General Register Office Research Room in Dublin was closed to the public for a considerable time during office hours on Tuesday, 1 November 2011; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34120/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The statutory responsibility for the administration of civil registration in Ireland rests with An t-Ard Chláraitheoir. His office – the General Register Office - is the central repository for all records relating births, deaths, stillbirths, marriages, civil partnerships and adoptions in the state. The Office does not engage in genealogical or family history research on behalf of members of the public, but the Research Room in Dublin facilitates the searching of Indexes by members of the public and provides them with copies of the records on payment of the prescribed fee.

The Research Room in Dublin is open to the public from 9.30am to 4.30pm Monday to Friday and can accommodate 40 customers at any given time. The number of customers using the facility has increased greatly over the past year, mainly as a result of television programmes on the subjects of genealogy and ancestral history which have increased awareness among members of the public.

On November 1st this increased demand led to the Research Room operating at full capacity and excess demand for the service during this particular day meant that management had to restrict access to the facility for a period of approximately 1 hour.

Any decision to restrict access to the facility is regrettable and rarely occurs and I acknowledge the inconvenience this causes to our customers. However, it was felt that on this occasion for health and safety reasons it was in the best interest of customers and staff to restrict access to the Research Room for this short period of time.