--part1_140.d439e47.29f46056_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Language: en I thought this might be of interest to everyone. IRISH VOICE April 10, 2002 Genealogists Angry at Change in Irish Law Georgina Brennan=20 =20 FAMILY TREE experts have claimed that amendments to Ireland=E2=80=99s Soci= al=20 Welfare laws will make it more difficult for Americans to trace their roots=20 and obtain Irish passports. Dublin genealogist Tim O=E2=80=99Neill says that= the=20 Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, 2002 which has just been=20 passed will "close public access to all the records that are less than 100=20 years old".=20 Loosely translated, that means that no member of the public will have the= =20 right any longer to look up birth, marriage or death events that happened=20 anytime in the 20th century without the consent of the person they are tryin= g=20 to trace. However, Social Welfare Minister Dermot Ahern said that the Government wa= s=20 trying to improve access to birth, deaths and marriage registries. Speaking to the Irish house of parliment, he said, "At present, there is= =20 only one national index printed on paper and this means that only one person= =20 may access particular years for an event at any one time. "The computerization of the national index-dating back to 1845 for=20 marriages and 1864 for births and deaths-currently under way, will provide=20 simultaneous access to a number of parties, including genealogists, and will= =20 also ensure an accurate and up to date index to events is available. "Copies of the records held electronically will be more accessible and=20 easier to produce than at present. The electronic database of vital events=20 will therefore provide a level of service which would not be possible in a=20 paper-based system. "It will be essential to protect the primary records after the electroni= c=20 capture has been completed and to have them available for the investigation=20 of any query in relation to the electronic record. However, O'Neill said=20 that the computerization would cause unforeseen problems. "There is a huge=20 margin of error to finding a correct record and you don't have proper access= =20 (under the terms of the bill)," >> --part1_140.d439e47.29f46056_boundary Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Disposition: inline Return-path: <[email protected]> From: [email protected] Full-name: Steeler059 Message-ID: <[email protected]> Date: Sun, 21 Apr 2002 12:43:39 EDT Subject: Genealogists Angry at Change in Irish Law MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Language: en To: undisclosed-recipients:; X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Windows sub 93 If you do not want this material. please delete now. If you do not want=20 any mailings from me, please email me and I will remove you from the list. =20= I=20 will not be responsible for this material being forwarded to others. Feel=20 free to share these mailings, but if you choose to forward this, please make= =20 sure it is not received by them unsolicited, for your own protection Irish Voice April 10, 2002 Genealogists Angry at Change in Irish Law Georgina Brennan=20 FAMILY TREE experts have claimed that amendments to Ireland=E2=80=99s Socia= l Welfare=20 laws will make it more difficult for Americans to trace their roots and=20 obtain Irish passports. Dublin genealogist Tim O=E2=80=99Neill says that the= Social=20 Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, 2002 which has just been passed wil= l=20 "close public access to all the records that are less than 100 years old".=20 Loosely translated, that means that no member of the public will have the=20 right any longer to look up birth, marriage or death events that happened=20 anytime in the 20th century without the consent of the person they are tryin= g=20 to trace. However, Social Welfare Minister Dermot Ahern said that the Government was= =20 trying to improve access to birth, deaths and marriage registries. Speaking to the Irish house of parliment, he said, "At present, there is=20 only one national index printed on paper and this means that only one person= =20 may access particular years for an event at any one time. "The computerization of the national index-dating back to 1845 for=20 marriages and 1864 for births and deaths-currently under way, will provide=20 simultaneous access to a number of parties, including genealogists, and will= =20 also ensure an accurate and up to date index to events is available. "Copies of the records held electronically will be more accessible and=20 easier to produce than at present. The electronic database of vital events=20 will therefore provide a level of service which would not be possible in a=20 paper-based system. "It will be essential to protect the primary records after the electronic= =20 capture has been completed and to have them available for the investigation=20 of any query in relation to the electronic record. However, O'Neill said=20 that the computerization would cause unforeseen problems. "There is a huge=20 margin of error to finding a correct record and you don't have proper access= =20 (under the terms of the bill)," --part1_140.d439e47.29f46056_boundary--