This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: AnnetteCode Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.britisles.ireland.lex.general/2803.1.1.1.2.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: I agree but that isn't the way with Ireland. If you look you can find a letter from the auditor general about 5-6 years ago after reviewing what had happened to the grants for ancestry tourism. The idea being the grants would be given to the county and they were to set up if didn't have already a genealogy office with a archivist, collect records and have them available for free to visiting tourists. The catch being you had to travel to Ireland to get them. This is not what happened the counties took the money, did the development, collected the materials and then had a policy of 'cost recovery' to pay the archivist. This was extremely expensive 350Euro was my first estimate. His recommendation was that all the information collected with government funded grants should be given to public libraries. At one time I tried to get a petition going of all the 'gene' people online but it never took off. I think we will need to agree to disagree about the subject, perhaps it should be free to Irish residents since it is their resource. I agreed about the date but age, isn't that obvious by the date? or did I miss something. Annette Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.