Sean J. Murphy M.A. of the Centre for Irish Genealogical and Historical Studies referred to the the Gaelic Census Return Forms in his review of March 2009. The sample Returns mentioned below may be viewed on Google, as they may not transfer on this email. Here is extract of Sean's findings. The case of Murreagh noted below can only be described as particularly unacceptable, where 9 of the 23 1911 Census returns were completed in Irish and simply left unindexed and untranslated, despite English versions of the surnames being provided in the Enumerator’s Form B1. It is indeed ironic that the British regime had less trouble organising the translation of early twentieth century census forms completed in Gaelic than public servants in an independent Ireland a century later. Copies of the 1911 Census return and the blank online index entry for the family of Seán Ághas (John Ashe) of Murreagh are appended below again for purposes of comparison (Appendix 2). It will be noted that the Gaelic forms of surnames are more complicated than the English forms, and I suggest that they should firstly be indexed exactly with the various prefixes (Ua, Ó, Uí, Ní, Mac, Nic) followed by a space and the name proper, and then cross-referenced to English translations, which should follow the admittedly inexact but nonetheless established conventions of placing an apostrophe after the O (O’X) and leaving no space after the Mc (McX). The following images relating to the 1911 Census return for the Galvin family of Castle Town, DED Castletown, County Cork (reproduced courtesy of the National Archives) well demonstrate this problem. This census form is 'indexed' as follows on the National Archives site: (Google) The present writer is not a well-paid public servant with holiday, sick-leave, conference travel, 'privilege day' and work expenses entitlements, but I will take the time nonetheless to point out to senior Archives staff, all of whom should be at least as familiar with the Irish lanaguage as myself, how to go about deciphering the above 1911 Census form. The task is admittedly complicated by the use of An Cló Gaelach or old Gaelic script, but this should not be a problem for those in their 50s or older who were trained at school to use this style before its replacement with An Cló Rómánach or modern script. Of course, the contemporary enumerator's form B.1, also online, helps us out immediately by listing the head of the family as Patrick Galvin (again, how ironic that the British regime could handle Gaelic translations better than Irish officials today). Secondly, with the aid of Woulfe's Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall and MacLysaght's Surnames of Ireland, supplemented where necessary with a good Irish-English dictionary, the above details can be transcribed and translated as follows, with some inevitable uncertainties indicated by question marks: Pádraig Ó Gealbháin/Patrick Galvin, head of family Máire Bean Uí Ghealbháin/Mary? Galvin, wife Mairghréad Ní Ghealbháin/Margaret Galvin, daughter Caitlín Ní Ghealbháin/Kathleen? Galvin, daughter Nóra Ní Raghallaigh/Nora (O?)Reilly, servant It should be noted that Máire can sometimes be translated as Maria or Maura, Caitlín sometimes as Catherine, while the 'O' prefix was not always used in the English version of the surname. The incorporation of entries such as the above in an online database is admittedly not easy but could be achieved with proper consultation and planning. Indeed the problem of Gaelic entries emphasises the need for a proper soundex or variant form search facility, which is lacking on the National Archives site, as well as doubly underlining the necessity to have a standardised system of dealing with 'O' and 'Mac' surnames (again, my advice is to employ the received forms, eg, O'Sullivan, McCarthy). Now this is just the sort of tutorial which I had in mind when I offered to visit the National Archives free of charge and advise senior staff on the census project, which offer as noted above was ignored. I am keenly aware that the census project is a complex one and that I do not possess all the answers, but it would appear that I do have some useful ideas to impart. To conclude, I do not wish to reflect unfairly on Library and Archives Canada, which is stated to have been contracted by the National Archives to carry out most of the work on the online census project, but how could such a respected repository issue a product so flawed as that which is under review? In particular, the treatment of census forms completed in Gaelic is equivalent to an Irish body contracting to index Canadian census returns and leaving any French-language forms encountered untranslated and unindexed. Of course the primary responsibility for the deficiencies of the online census project lies with the National Archives, which would appear to have farmed out the indexing of the censuses to people woefully uneducated concerning the English forms of Irish surnames and completely ignorant of their Gaelic forms. Once again I call on the Director and senior staff of the National Archives to pause work on the census online project until the problems outlined here have been resolved and if necessary to stand aside and pass the task on to more competent agents. Addendum II, 16 July 2009 While not stooping to acknowledge this report on the online census project properly, senior National Archives staff are showing more signs of tacitly acknowledging criticisms which were formerly ignored or dismissed out of hand. In particular, a belated attempt is being made to deal with the particularly embarrassing failure to make provision for the translation of census returns completed in Gaelic. It would appear that a special effort is being made to deal with the County Kerry returns highlighted above, and having secured the services of someone with a knowledge of Gaelic, transcriptions of forms completed in that language are being added to the online database. However, English translations of the surnames still appear to be strangely absent, so that for example, in the townland of Murreagh the dashes noted above have been replaced with Gaelic names only, which will leave those with a little or no knowledge of the language at a disadvantage. To spell this out, what good is it to index families known to descendants in the United States of America only as 'Kevane' or 'Ashe' in the unfamiliar forms 'Ua Caomháin' or 'Ághas'? Indeed such is the real as opposed to the professed degree of knowledge of Gaelic in Ireland, that there will be more than a few in this country who would be left struggling by this failure of comprehensive indexing. Furthermore, there are signs of confusion in these belated amendments, as for example in the case of the O'Sullivan family of Derrynid Townland, Dawross DED, County Kerry, where one entry is translated but garbled over two lines and the other entries merely transcribed: The following images relating to the 1911 Census return for the Galvin family of Castle Town, DED Castletown, County Cork (reproduced courtesy of the National Archives) well demonstrate this problem. This census form is 'indexed' as follows on the National Archives site: The present writer is not a well-paid public servant with holiday, sick-leave, conference travel, 'privilege day' and work expenses entitlements, but I will take the time nonetheless to point out to senior Archives staff, all of whom should be at least as familiar with the Irish lanaguage as myself, how to go about deciphering the above 1911 Census form. The task is admittedly complicated by the use of An Cló Gaelach or old Gaelic script, but this should not be a problem for those in their 50s or older who were trained at school to use this style before its replacement with An Cló Rómánach or modern script. Of course, the contemporary enumerator's form B.1, also online, helps us out immediately by listing the head of the family as Patrick Galvin (again, how ironic that the British regime could handle Gaelic translations better than Irish officials today). Secondly, with the aid of Woulfe's Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall and MacLysaght's Surnames of Ireland, supplemented where necessary with a good Irish-English dictionary, the above details can be transcribed and translated as follows, with some inevitable uncertainties indicated by question marks: Pádraig Ó Gealbháin/Patrick Galvin, head of family Máire Bean Uí Ghealbháin/Mary? Galvin, wife Mairghréad Ní Ghealbháin/Margaret Galvin, daughter Caitlín Ní Ghealbháin/Kathleen? Galvin, daughter Nóra Ní Raghallaigh/Nora (O?)Reilly, servant It should be noted that Máire can sometimes be translated as Maria or Maura, Caitlín sometimes as Catherine, while the 'O' prefix was not always used in the English version of the surname. The incorporation of entries such as the above in an online database is admittedly not easy but could be achieved with proper consultation and planning. Indeed the problem of Gaelic entries emphasises the need for a proper soundex or variant form search facility, which is lacking on the National Archives site, as well as doubly underlining the necessity to have a standardised system of dealing with 'O' and 'Mac' surnames (again, my advice is to employ the received forms, eg, O'Sullivan, McCarthy). Now this is just the sort of tutorial which I had in mind when I offered to visit the National Archives free of charge and advise senior staff on the census project, which offer as noted above was ignored. I am keenly aware that the census project is a complex one and that I do not possess all the answers, but it would appear that I do have some useful ideas to impart. To conclude, I do not wish to reflect unfairly on Library and Archives Canada, which is stated to have been contracted by the National Archives to carry out most of the work on the online census project, but how could such a respected repository issue a product so flawed as that which is under review? In particular, the treatment of census forms completed in Gaelic is equivalent to an Irish body contracting to index Canadian census returns and leaving any French-language forms encountered untranslated and unindexed. Of course the primary responsibility for the deficiencies of the online census project lies with the National Archives, which would appear to have farmed out the indexing of the censuses to people woefully uneducated concerning the English forms of Irish surnames and completely ignorant of their Gaelic forms. Once again I call on the Director and senior staff of the National Archives to pause work on the census online project until the problems outlined here have been resolved and if necessary to stand aside and pass the task on to more competent agents. Addendum II, 16 July 2009 While not stooping to acknowledge this report on the online census project properly, senior National Archives staff are showing more signs of tacitly acknowledging criticisms which were formerly ignored or dismissed out of hand. In particular, a belated attempt is being made to deal with the particularly embarrassing failure to make provision for the translation of census returns completed in Gaelic. It would appear that a special effort is being made to deal with the County Kerry returns highlighted above, and having secured the services of someone with a knowledge of Gaelic, transcriptions of forms completed in that language are being added to the online database. However, English translations of the surnames still appear to be strangely absent, so that for example, in the townland of Murreagh the dashes noted above have been replaced with Gaelic names only, which will leave those with a little or no knowledge of the language at a disadvantage. To spell this out, what good is it to index families known to descendants in the United States of America only as 'Kevane' or 'Ashe' in the unfamiliar forms 'Ua Caomháin' or 'Ághas'? Indeed such is the real as opposed to the professed degree of knowledge of Gaelic in Ireland, that there will be more than a few in this country who would be left struggling by this failure of comprehensive indexing. Furthermore, there are signs of confusion in these belated amendments, as for example in the case of the O'Sullivan family of Derrynid Townland, Dawross DED, County Kerry, where one entry is translated but garbled over two lines and the other entries merely transcribed: