Got this email from one of my Irish family name lists. Thought everyone could contribute/help, if you haven't seen/heard this already. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some of you may recall taking part in a petition drive a couple of years ago having to do with improving access to records at the General Register Office in Dublin. The petition was circulated at the behest of the Council of Irish Genealogical Organizations, but the results were never widely made public. The petition, and the customer comments were presented to selected ministers in the relevant departments, but not given wide release at the time in hopes that direct persuasion would have the desired effect. Alas, not only has the situation not gotten better, it has gotten worse, and is due to get a LOT worse yet if proposed legislation is allowed to go through. One of the provisions of the proposed legislation is the removal of public access to original birth, death and marriage records in the superintendent registrar's offices around the country. It's not clear but what the new law might also withdraw permission for use of microfilm copies of these records at LDS Libraries around the world. But what bodes most ill for future genealogists is that records will be identified by a national identity number which will allow government departments to share information and link data on an individual without the need for identifying details. A death record, for example, would exclude information such as the deceased's place of birth, parents' names, spouse's name, or in the case of a married woman, maiden name. The new version of the death record will, however, include the "occupation" of spouse or parents. It doesn't matter to the Irish government what your grandfather's name was, just what he did for a living! Seriously folks, this is not an April Fool's joke. Please take a look at http://world.std.com/~ahern/CIGOrept.htm and consider writing to The Irish Times, and other Irish and Irish-American papers to call attention to this issue. Communicate your concerns to the relevant government ministers. Irish genealogists face enough hurdles as it is. Don't let them make it even worse.

Does anyone know if it is as effective to send an email to the contacts listed in the link below or FAX or regular mail/post? All I have are Irish ancestors to research, so it is of great interest to me. Thanks, Margaret KIRK/SCULLY (MULLEN), REID/TAHANY MEEHAN/SAVAGE>QUINLAN, TONER/KEARNEY>MURRAY, IRVING ----- Original Message ----- From: "Larry A. Miller" <larryamiller@netzero.net> To: <CountyCork-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2002 9:46 AM Subject: [Cork] FW: Access to Irish Vital Records Got this email from one of my Irish family name lists. Thought everyone could contribute/help, if you haven't seen/heard this already. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some of you may recall taking part in a petition drive a couple of years ago having to do with improving access to records at the General Register Office in Dublin. The petition was circulated at the behest of the Council of Irish Genealogical Organizations, but the results were never widely made public. The petition, and the customer comments were presented to selected ministers in the relevant departments, but not given wide release at the time in hopes that direct persuasion would have the desired effect. Alas, not only has the situation not gotten better, it has gotten worse, and is due to get a LOT worse yet if proposed legislation is allowed to go through. One of the provisions of the proposed legislation is the removal of public access to original birth, death and marriage records in the superintendent registrar's offices around the country. It's not clear but what the new law might also withdraw permission for use of microfilm copies of these records at LDS Libraries around the world. But what bodes most ill for future genealogists is that records will be identified by a national identity number which will allow government departments to share information and link data on an individual without the need for identifying details. A death record, for example, would exclude information such as the deceased's place of birth, parents' names, spouse's name, or in the case of a married woman, maiden name. The new version of the death record will, however, include the "occupation" of spouse or parents. It doesn't matter to the Irish government what your grandfather's name was, just what he did for a living! Seriously folks, this is not an April Fool's joke. Please take a look at http://world.std.com/~ahern/CIGOrept.htm and consider writing to The Irish Times, and other Irish and Irish-American papers to call attention to this issue. Communicate your concerns to the relevant government ministers. Irish genealogists face enough hurdles as it is. Don't let them make it even worse. ==== CountyCork Mailing List ==== ** To contact the listowner, send a message to mpetzolt2@webtv.net **