Introduction
The Directory of Irish Genealogy was published in conventional printed form between 1990 and 1994, and has appeared on the Internet since 1998, this being the 2009 Edition. As usual there is a mix of useful information, guidance and links, accompanied by statements of opinion on areas of concern in the realm of Irish genealogy. Contact details of most of the repositories and organisations mentioned below may be found in our Links section. All opinions expressed are of course those of the author alone, and where factual errors can be demonstrated they will be corrected.
2009 has been a tough year internationally and a disastrous one for Ireland, with the 'Celtic Tiger' well and truly dead, the speculative property bubble burst, banks being bailed out by government to avoid total economic collapse, homeowners saddled with massive mortgages and negative equity, businesses going under, unemployment rising and public expenditure cut as government desperately tries to manage a crisis which it did so much to create. The recession has not yet greatly negatively affected genealogy, which continues to grow in popularity, and indeed it has been observed that in times of adversity people's thoughts turn more to their families and their origins. However, genealogy can be an expensive leisure pursuit, and if there is not an economic upturn soon, expenditure on commercial genealogical services may shrink and state resources devoted to genealogy will contract. With regard to the latter point, we will look particularly below at the value for money of some ongoing genealogical projects supported by state funds.
Within the National Library of Ireland, the most useful facilities for genealogists are the Genealogy Room and the microfilm rooms. In a welcome further liberalisation of policy, it is now possible to print off for personal use copies from microfilms of Genealogical Office and Catholic parish registers. The Library has also placed online a new manuscript and periodical article finding aid called Sources, which is primarily based on the printed volumes compiled under the direction of Richard J Hayes, providing an important but admittedly specialised research tool which will be of most value to more advanced genealogists. The writer would regard the Library's Sources project as a sensible combination of existing published work and the capacities of information technology, indeed a case of money well spent and from sampling to date reasonably accurately compiled. In the latter part of 2009 the Library also permitted users to take digital photographic copies for personal use of original Genealogical Office manuscripts, in the same way and under the same controls as apply to other Library manuscripts. With regard to the Library's Office of the Chief Herald, it remains the case that all arms grants from 1943-2003 lack legal validity and those from 2005 when limited heraldic legislation came into effect are still of questionable status. Furthermore, given the Office's past entanglement in the Mac Carthy Mór and allied scandals, quite a number of its more recent records are frankly corrupt. Chief Herald Fergus Gillespie, co-signatory with then Chief Herald Donal Begley of the 1992 certificate of chiefship for the hoaxer Terence MacCarthy, is due to retire shortly and it is not clear when and if he will be replaced. The writer has made no secret of the fact that he would prefer this discredited office to fade away, provided that the Library maintains and hopefully continues to develop its family history services, perhaps through something like a new combined department of genealogy, heraldry and local studies which would be headed by specialist librarian.
As part of its cost cutting plans, government has proposed that the National Library take over the National Archives of Ireland, but it is not clear how much progress has been made to realise this plan. The National Archives's project to digitise Irish census records has advanced to the point where the 1911 Census for the thirty-two counties is now online, with the 1901 Census promised to be added early in 2010. While free to view, the online census project is behind schedule and to date has cost €4.6 million of increasingly scarce public funds, provided by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism. Furthermore, the present writer has found that there is an unacceptably large error rate in the online 1911 Census, in the region of 10% in the case of samples of Dublin and Kerry returns. In addition to misreadings of names, such as 'Raster' for 'Rafter', 'Mc Mary' for 'McEnery', forenames are indexed as surnames and vice versa, and O and Mc surnames are garbled by sometimes placing spaces after the prefix, sometimes not. There is no soundex or variant search facility on the Archives site, as is standard on sites such as FamilySearch and Ancestry, and one suspects that there was no competent genealogist involved at the project planning stage to advise on such necessary features. A long drawn-out and still not fully completed Freedom of Information request has raised further disturbing questions concerning the Archives census project: Did Library and Archives Canada withdraw from its principal role in the indexing work after or soon after Dublin was released online, and will it correct errors in work for which payment has been made? Why does not the Archives census website list AEL Data of India as the current main contractor in the project? Why was the Genealogical Society of Utah's offer to digitise the 1901 Census as part of the free Mormon FamilySearch program rejected? Given its problems in relation to staffing, resources, records processing and storage space, why did the Archives insist on proceeding with the expensive 'special' census project rather than farming it out to others and concentrating on its core duties?
The aforementioned FamilySearch provided Irish genealogists with a remarkable free gift in the early part of 2009, in the form of some 23 million online index entries of births, marriages and deaths (go to http://www.familysearch.org/, click 'Search Records' then 'Record Search pilot'). The FamilySearch facility has liberated users of the General Register Office's research facility in Dublin from the chore of having to pay to search the single (repeat single) printed copies of indexes to birth, marriage and death. The writer was frankly surprised by the amount of sharp commentary which the FamilySearch initiative provoked in Ireland, and while the online facility is not without its flaws, criticism should be tempered by awareness of the fact that it costs the Irish taxpayer and its users not a cent. Unfortunately, the GRO itself is not geared to deal with the predictably increasing number of queries for copy registrations being made in person or by post, so that its system has been coming under increasing strain, with the doors of the research room closed to frustrated users on occasions this year due to 'overcrowding'. Millions have apparently been spent on a GRO computerisation project which is too flawed to be rolled out online (yes, this is the sort of thing which swallowed up Celtic Tiger cash, and no, the GRO will not provide background information in response to an FOI application). Adding indolence to incompetence, the following comical message has appeared on the GRO's website for some time now:Online applications will not be possible until we have an appropriately secure online facility. (We hope
to introduce this facility sometime in xxxx).The longest running government-funded project has been the Irish Genealogical Project, which was severely criticised by the Comptroller and Auditor General in 1996 for poor management and standards and is now apparently in abeyance, its grand scheme to computerise Irish records unfinished. A rump of the project survives as the Irish Family History Foundation, which boasts a total of 16 million records online, but which it insists on doling out at a cost of €5 per individual piece of information. The Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism has surprisingly entered the fray as a genealogical player in apparent competition to the IFHF, recently releasing on free access on its Irish Genealogy website over a million Kerry and Dublin church records, with more records promised next year. The politics of Irish genealogy are somewhat impenetrable, even to a veteran observer like the author, but let us enjoy this unexpected bounty of government while it lasts, particularly if we are taxpayers frustrated by past government expenditure on poor quality projects.
The writer's publications last year included an article in the magazine History Ireland on the history of the Registry of Deeds, a remarkable repository established in 1708 whose records realistically are only genealogically useful in the case of wealthier families. Together with the younger Land Registry founded in 1892, the Registry of Deeds is in the process of being subsumed into the new Property Registration Authority. While the records of the Registry of Deeds can for the time being be searched at no charge in its period premises in the King's Inns, Henrietta Street, there are fears that this facililty may not be maintained as the office is wound down and indeed as government cuts perceived unnecessary expenditure. These fears have now turned to alarm following a recent Irish Times revelation that the Property Registration Authority has started to destroy thousands of 'Land Certificates', some over a century old. Disturbingly, the same article quoted a spokesman for the National Archives as stating that preservation of these documents is not in its remit. It is clear both that the National Archives needs to be radically overhauled and that no civil servant should be allowed to destroy documents without the permission and supervision of state archivists. I have been endeavouring, so far unsucessfully, to establish the full range of records held by the Registry of Deeds, and find it remarkable that the Property Registration Authority claims not to be subject to the Freedom of Information Acts.
In conclusion, the writer can report that he continues to give Adult Education classes in genealogy in University College Dublin, which have now stabilised as a three-year, six-module Certificate course mapped at Level 7 of the National Framework of Qualifications. The first module, offered on an afternoon or a night for ten weeks commencing in September at UCD's Blackrock and Belfield campuses, also serves as a stand-alone introduction to genealogy for students who do not wish to complete the full course. Demonstrating the ongoing genealogy boom, these introductory classes tend to be booked out well in advance. As part of my program of free online publications, I have released my Primer in Irish Genealogy, which as well as serving as a textbook for students will also hopefully be of some benefit to those who do not have access to taught classes.Sean Murphy
Centre for Irish Genealogical and Historical Studies
Last updated 27 December 2009