Online GRO BMD Register Records

Coolnabacky1873

I just wanted to start a dedicated thread to the announcement that was made at the launch of the GRO Indexes, and commented on in the thread on that topic.

“This [the GRO indexes online database] is an investment for the future which allows us to access our past from the comfort of our living rooms. The availability of electronic records is essential for the development of modern genealogy services. With this in mind, I will shortly be publishing the Civil Registration (Amendment) Bill 2014 in which I will be providing for certain historic records to be made available online direct to the public. I look forward to further developments on this wonderful initiative which will allow us, and future generations, access to invaluable information regarding our ancestors."
She (Tánaiste Burton) went on to say that these historic records would be full register records for births up to 100 years ago, marriages up to 75 years ago, and deaths up to 50 years ago. - See more at: http://irish-genealogy-news.blogspot.com/2014/07/making-sense-of-gro-database-your.html#sthash.APzEz3TE.dpuf

Two points that came up for me that I did not see any discussion about:
i) Will they be transcriptions or digital images?
ii) Will access be free or will there be a charge for each certificate?

Jellybaby1

In light of the recent records coming online I think I was just afraid to ask and hope to God they will be free. I have several pages of new records printed out which I need to check now and its going to cost me the earth so I need to phase it over a few months or I will bankrupt my already poor hubby.

L1011

I would imagine that it'll be images - as they have the images digitised. If you go to get an official reprint off a cert, its the image from the register printed on the form rather than a rewrite.

I also suspect it'll be free - we as a country have realised the value of gene tourism that the Scots have made an industry out of and have also realised that the little records we have left are a limiting factor. What we have free is better than most countries have and as a proportion of *what* we have, its huge.

<veering off-topic>
My wishlist would be for both a change in the Statistics Act to match the US's 70 years - giving us '26, '36 and by the time those were done, '46 censuses; and for some state funding for grave inscription transcription - maybe via Community Employment schemes?

What could be done by enthusiasts would be trying to get agreement from the various newspaper archives and/or the actual owners of the papers/out of copyright microfilms thereof to start a births/marriages/deaths transcription project; these go before 1864 in some cases and for later ones have more narrative information than the GRO records

Jellybaby1

Community Employment Scheme idea is okay but they really should make sure the people doing the work have some sort of interest in the work. I have seen for myself when the wrong person in the wrong job. If someone doesn't have an interest in this subject then they will be bored to tears very quickly and you can't expect them to do it if they hate it. I've seen the results of this before.

Hermy

My thoughts...

Firstly, I wonder if Joan's announcement has anything to do with her own difficulties in tracing her birth family. Either way the new online records are a very welcome addition for those of us tracing for those reasons.

Secondly, much as I welcome all of this, it has to be said that both the records and the website are of a very low standard. The transcriptions are poor, the absence of second christian names is inexcusable, and the functionality of the website compares very unfavourably with other similar sites. The captcha's and initial log in which have to be reactivated if you turn your back for more than a few moments, coupled with the search options which never seem to work with you, make the site incredibly frustrating to use.

Thirdly, if I had one wish it would be for the standards generally within the GRO to be raised. The location of the current research room, the questionable attitude of some of the staff, and the latest set of index books which are illegible in places badly need to be addressed. So too the research certs which used to be high quality black and white scans printed on Legal size paper but are now inferior scans on A4 paper. Of course a fully integrated online system would address a lot of these concerns.

But as long as these low standards prevail I shall remain rather more pessimistic than I'd like to be about the future.

Coolnabacky1873

Hermy wrote: »

Firstly, I wonder if Joan's announcement has anything to do with her own difficulties in tracing her birth family.

I read about that in the profile the Irish Times did about her life. Amazing that she was on the list of babies to be adopted to families in the US, with an Irish passport created and ready to be used.

Has to have had some impact on an understanding of the importance of access to genealogy records. Burton and Deenihan, together, could be very good for Irish genealogy.