I received this from a colleague who subscribes to the Co. Donegal mailing list. We'll have to be patient, but it sounds as if it will be worth it. Mary in Greece > "A little Christmas present from Canada. > > I am so sick and tired of this Census nonsense and the fees and the > lousy records and the condition that they are in that I have > complained voiceciferously to my MP who is a member of the Canadian > Privy Council that the Canadian Government along with a few hundred > others, so that the Canadian Government via National Archives has > offered and the offer has been accepted by the Irish Government > [National Archives] to digitize the whole 1901 Census mess using our > system here in Canada. This is a two and a half year project and > once completed the access will be free. Since 18% of the population > base of North America can claim some Irish Ancestry [18% of 350 > million = 63 million] I think we deserve better service. Dublin will > be available a year from now and the rest the year after that. Merry > Christmas to the Irish Diaspora from Canada. > > Eric Macklin > Macklin Foundation > Toronto > > PS. I complained so bitterly in Dublin that they kicked me off the > irl-Dublin web site. So I flew over and did it myself only to find > out that the Census records for 1901 were in awful shape. For other > records the story only gets worse. " >