I am passing on this article with permission... > Online genealogy should be a hit > > > FAMILY history researchers will soon have a field day through the > provision of 1901 and 1911 census returns on the web. > > A project to digitise the records of the National Archives is > underway, and access will be provided through the internet. > > Last year, millions of web hits caused the British 1901 census website > to crash after unprecedented interest in the uploaded records. > > It is understood that the provision of Irish census information on the > web is still some way off, but its provision will prove a boon to > those of Irish extraction worldwide. > > Civil records of births, marriages and deaths have recently been > digitised at the General Register Office, but are not yet available > through the internet. > > Making millions of census returns available online would be > revolutionary for those researching their family trees and take huge > pressure off the National Archives in Bishop Street, where the records > can currently be viewed on microfilm. > > It is understood that Ireland will soon pass Britain by having the > 1911 census online. Britain has a 100-year secrecy rule on census > returns, but in Ireland they are deemed to be in the public domain > after 75 years. > > Census returns in Ireland immediately before 1901 were largely > destroyed through the burning of the Custom House during the War of > Independence. -- Pat Connors, currently visiting Albany NY