Hi I also agree it should be free or even have subscription maybe that would work but not the over the top with that either Regards jean On Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 3:23 AM, JJ Woods <woodsjj@gmail.com> wrote: > Please read the following news item from Irish Times Newspaper. If any > person wishes to support Olivia Mitchell's call that the Genealogical > information should be free to all researchers , they should write in > support > to: > > Olivia Mitchell T. D. Dail Eireann , Leinster House , Kildare Street, > Dublin > 2. > > *email; Olivia.Mitchell@finegael.ie* > ** > *or* > ** > *Irish Times Newspaper, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2 * > *news@irish-times.ie* > **** > *Date:* 13 March 2008 > *Publication:* The Irish Times > *SUMMARY:* The launch of a new national genealogy service that will charge > people for every public record accessed has been criticised as a > "betrayal" > of the long-established tradition that public information in this country > should be available free of charge. > *ORIGINAL ARTICLE:* The new all-Ireland central database of genealogical > records was launched yesterday by the Minister for Arts, Sports and > Tourism, > Seamus Brennan, and the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, Martin > McGuinness, at a ceremony on the Jeanie Johnston, the replica Famine-era > sailing ship moored in Dublin. > > The website, sponsored by the Irish Family History Association, > contains 8.6million birth, baptismal and deaths records from the 1600s > to the 1900s > obtained from a variety of State and church archives. > > However, Fine Gael spokeswoman for Arts, Sports and Tourism, Olivia > Mitchell, said that it was very regrettable that the new genealogy service > was designed to be a commercial one with people being charged EUR 10 for > every single item of information. "The gathering and digitisation of the > parish records was done at public expense and it was always envisaged that > this kind of public information should be made freely available to the > public. > > "It is a complete break with tradition and practice that an important > aspect > of our national archives should be subject to a charge. > > "We have prided ourselves on free access to our archives, to our national > museums and to the National Gallery. I am surprised that the Minister > should > lend his name to this betrayal by performing the launch of the online > service," said Ms Mitchell. > > She said that an online service was long overdue. > > But Ms Mitchell called for the information to be given to the National > Archives as an integral part of the public information service it > provides. > > She added that she had no objection to the Irish Family History > Association > charging a fee to people who commissioned it to carry out research, but it > was utterly unacceptable that Irish citizens be charged for accessing > their > own family records assembled at public expense. > > The association said in a statement that the bulk of the computerisation > of > genealogical material had been completed by county centres and that the > collation of many millions of records as a searchable database online was > a > remarkable achievement. > > So far, 22 county centres had made their databases available online and it > was planned that further centres would be added, the association added. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > IRL-LIMERICK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > -- Kind regards Jean