I was sent this article from the Irish Times Thu Mar 13 2008, which you can read for yourself at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~donegal/gensvce.jpg I'm not sure whether to laugh or be appalled - there's a new website online, sponsored by the Irish Family History Foundation, which was launched by the Minister of Arts, Sports and Tourism, Republic of Ireland and the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. It contains 8.6 million church and civil records, obtained from State and church archives, gathered at public expense (ie using taxpayers money)- but is being run as a commercial service, charging 10 for every single item of information. These items are transcriptions of records, not the originals, and as with all transcriptions there may be errors, which the website warns against, even going so far as to say if there is an error to let them know! Currently, if you go through the Civil Registration Office in Roscommon, the cost of a full Certificate of Births, Marriages and Deaths is 10; a photocopy of an entry is 6; and with the vol no/ref its 4. The newspaper article goes on to say that "it is a complete break with tradition that an important aspect of our national archives should be subject to a charge", and there was a call "for the information to be given to the National Archives as an integral part of the public information service it provides." Further, that it was "utterly unacceptable that Irish citizens be charged for accessing their own family records assembled at public expense." The new website is at http://ifhf.brsgenealogy.com/ but does not mention anything about the records being gathered at public expense, only that "they have achieved considerable success in gaining access through negotiation with record holders." Donegal records are not yet included in their database, but the site notes they are coming soon. These will be from Donegal Ancestry in Ramelton, who will hand over /sell their records to this IFHF Online Record Search System (shame they're not made available for people to do their own research in the records in Donegal!) There is a bit of a silver lining to this (if its transcripts you're after) - the new site will charge 10 per item/record........DA charges 23 per record search and 25 per baptism transcript....you'll get 2½ for the price of 1! Food for thought anyway! Happy St Patrick's Day! Lindel ___________________________________________________________ Rise to the challenge for Sport Relief with Yahoo! For Good http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/forgood/
I just realized that the 5 euro fee is only until the end of March..after that it's 10 euros ! Now I'm really doubly disgusted ! Frank McGonigal Ont.Canada ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lindel Buckley" <lindelb@yahoo.com> To: <donegaleire-l@rootsweb.com>; <irl-co-donegal@rootsweb.com>; <irl-donegal@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2008 7:55 AM Subject: [DONEGALEIRE] Ireland News - Launch of a new National GenealogyService I was sent this article from the Irish Times Thu Mar 13 2008, which you can read for yourself at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~donegal/gensvce.jpg I'm not sure whether to laugh or be appalled - there's a new website online, sponsored by the Irish Family History Foundation, which was launched by the Minister of Arts, Sports and Tourism, Republic of Ireland and the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. It contains 8.6 million church and civil records, obtained from State and church archives, gathered at public expense (ie using taxpayers money)- but is being run as a commercial service, charging ?10 for every single item of information. These items are transcriptions of records, not the originals, and as with all transcriptions there may be errors, which the website warns against, even going so far as to say if there is an error to let them know! Currently, if you go through the Civil Registration Office in Roscommon, the cost of a full Certificate of Births, Marriages and Deaths is ?10; a photocopy of an entry is ?6; and with the vol no/ref its ?4. The newspaper article goes on to say that "it is a complete break with tradition that an important aspect of our national archives should be subject to a charge", and there was a call "for the information to be given to the National Archives as an integral part of the public information service it provides." Further, that it was "utterly unacceptable that Irish citizens be charged for accessing their own family records assembled at public expense." The new website is at http://ifhf.brsgenealogy.com/ but does not mention anything about the records being gathered at public expense, only that "they have achieved considerable success in gaining access through negotiation with record holders." Donegal records are not yet included in their database, but the site notes they are coming soon. These will be from Donegal Ancestry in Ramelton, who will hand over /sell their records to this IFHF Online Record Search System (shame they're not made available for people to do their own research in the records in Donegal!) There is a bit of a silver lining to this (if its transcripts you're after) - the new site will charge ?10 per item/record........DA charges ?23 per record search and ?25 per baptism transcript....you'll get 2½ for the price of 1! Food for thought anyway! Happy St Patrick's Day! Lindel ___________________________________________________________ Rise to the challenge for Sport Relief with Yahoo! For Good http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/forgood/ When replying to a digest post, quote only the specific text to which you are replying, removing the rest of the digest from your reply. Also, remember to change the subject of your reply so that it coincides with the message subject to which you are replying. TO VIEW PREVIOUS EMAILS BY SUBJECT, GO TO THE THREADED ARCHIVES AT http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/DONEGALEIRE/ TO VIEW PREVIOUS EMAILS BY DATES AND SUBJECT GO TO THE SEARCHABLE ARCHIVES AT http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?path=DONEGALEIRE SOME HELPFUL WEBSITES: Donegal Genealogy Resource (Lindel's Site) http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~donegal/ Donegaleire Genealogy Links & Data http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~donegaleire/ Bob's Donegal Ireland Genealogy http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hiflyte/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DONEGALEIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message
Lindel posted: I was sent this article from the Irish Times Thu Mar 13 2008, which you can read for yourself at: I'm not sure whether to laugh or be appalled - there's a new website online, sponsored by the Irish Family History Foundation, which was launched by the Minister of Arts, Sports and Tourism, Republic of Ireland and the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. Lindel and List, Alas, this is not something new but a continuation of a trend that started about twenty-five years ago. I am reluctant to take up space and time here as it may be a subject that is not of interest to everyone. Nevertheless, I feel that it is important that the issue should be aired so that people may judge for themselves and hopefully take some action. Please bear with me as I give a short account of the changing landscape of genealogical research over the last couple of decades, as I found it here in Ireland. I am not an expert but the fire-side stories from my childhood home in Donegal made me want to find out more about who we are and where we came from. In my early twenties, I used to go to work-related courses in Dublin and this is where I must confess to a little deception. When the course tutors heard that I had a six hour bus journey home (true), I would be excused before noon on Friday and told to report back any time Monday. Paidí Thaidgh's bus did not leave Dublin until 18:00hrs. Friday and the return journey ended in Dublin at 12:00hrs. Monday so I sneaked off to various places of research during the supposed "traveling" time. Don't tell anyone, please. The first port of call was the old Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths in the cold and draughty basement of the Customs House. You paid, I think fifty pence for a book and you sat outside in a sort of lobby area where you could look at the index of names. If you did not find the name that you were looking for, you swapped books and some banter with the person at the next table and you had more years, free of charge. The staff were friendly Dublin people and they played cards in the back rooms when they were not busy (I often felt like ditching the genealogy and joining the twenty-five card school). Fast - forward a few years and the records have been moved to a lovely, warm building across the Liffey. The prices are unbelievably high, the service is professional but unfriendly, and forget about the card school. Give me back the fun in the basement anytime. O.K. Lets forget about the BMD Records then. There is good information to be had from the Valuation Records, where you can follow on from the original Griffiths Valuation of circa 1857 and see the change of ownership for each piece of property from 1857 to, I think, 1932, with a map that shows the location of each property. The Valuation Office was in Ely Place, not far from St. Stephen's Green if my memory is correct and again, the records were down in the basement, although maybe not, as you went up steps to enter the building. You filled in the registration form at the front office and you could happily spend the whole day looking at the hand-written records as well as admiring the old building. The charge when you returned to the front office and the hours were added up was minimal. There were no card schools though but you can't have everything. I cannot stress the importance of what you could find here, as there was at least some sort of continuance from the mid eighteen-fifties, almost until the present time, at least where it concerned land or other property. The last time that I visited the old building in Ely Place, the new rules were being introduced, only I did not know at the time. I spent hours in the place, like a child in a sweet shop. Then, I called the attendant and handed him the card that showed the time of entry. He was a real 'Dub' gentleman and as we walked back towards the front office, he totted up the time and informed me that it would cost an awful lot of money (not his words as anyone who has visited Dublin can imagine). He then said "I'll see what I can do", and the final cost was very affordable. He did not ask for or indicated that he would welcome a tip but he got one anyway. I did not go back to the Valuation Office, which I believe has moved to a nice new and warm building at a different location, as I felt that I could not afford their new prices. Not to worry though. There is now a reasonably decent road from Gweedore to Letterkenny, despite the efforts of certain politicians. It is possible to get to the Donegal County Library in less than one hour and they have the 1901 and 1911 Census Returns on micro film. I copied 1901 returns for most of the Gweedore townlands, at a cost of ten pence per copy (I may be wrong and stand to be corrected, but I think that it was ten pence). The price then went up to fifty pence per copy and after the Euro came on the scene, seventy cents per copy. I had hoped to copy the full 1911 returns for Gweedore and surrounding areas but for obvious reasons, this is not now likely to happen. I wrote to the County Librarian and expressed the opinion that this was an important service that could be of great value in drawing tourists into the county and that perhaps the price should be lower but he disagreed. Apologies for rambling on a bit about this. The only thing that matters to the politically correct and beautiful people who have control of these records is that Mother Ireland can take a wad of dollars out of your back pockets (where do you hold the credit cards). It is up to all of us to convince them that this is a resource that should be available at little or no cost to Irish people all around the world. The benefit to the country would be enormous in terms of tourism. Almost all of our Irish politicians are going to be working really hard in various places from New York to Sydney over the coming St. Patrick's Day and Easter holidays so you may be able to have a word with them. Don't offer them free drinks or envelopes full of used bank notes as I am told that they are not allowed to take presents. Do remind them that they could do better. Happy St. Patrick's Day to each and every one. P.J.