Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if his attention has been drawn to any feasibility study that has been conducted into the development of a consolidated, State overseen facility, both online and by traditional means, to allow members of the public to access digitised genealogical records from a wide variety of State and private sources including but not limited to the National Archives, National Museum, Health Service Executive births, deaths and marriage records, National Library, Military Archives, local authority records, prison records, land valuation records, cemetery records and so on; if so, if he will provide the details of such a study; his plans to develop this proposal or a similar proposal; his views on the desirability of such a facility in terms of our national heritage and tourism potential; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42020/12]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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While my Department is aware of a proposal for a potential digitisation project for access to large numbers of records, it has not, however, been involved in any feasibility study. As the Deputy will appreciate, any project covering the records referred to in her Question would fall within the remits of a number of Government Departments.

Turning to the particular area of genealogical records in relation to my own Department and agencies under my aegis, genealogical services are provided by the National Library of Ireland, the National Archives and through the website operated by my Department. My Department and the institutions are currently exploring what improvements could be made to our genealogical offering and work on this is ongoing. Discussions have also taken place in the context of The Gathering initiative, to which I referred in the House today. Furthermore, the Deputy will be aware of the recent call issued by the National Library of Ireland for expressions of interest in digitizing elements of its collection, including its genealogical records.

The Deputy may also wish to be aware that officials from my Department have recently been invited to join the stakeholder group for Digital Repository Ireland, a digital repository for contemporary and historical, social and cultural data held by Irish institutions.