GRO Records

pinkypinky

I do wonder whether any lobbying would work on this front.

josip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121390669#Comment_121390669

Unlikely, I have been emailing the GRO and the relevant ministers and TDs in my constituency annually since 2017.

For the TDs the issue doesn't map to enough potential votes to bother with.

For the GRO, it's patently obvious from their replies that it's...

Hermy

How would that work?

Emails to the Catherine Martin?

Could the likes of IGRS and AGI and any other interested groups be encouraged to do likewise?

pinkypinky

As the professional body, AGI should really lead that campaign.

CIGO, although largely dormant, could also help.

Emails to the director of the GRO and to Catherine Martin is what I'd do.

Waitsian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121390857#Comment_121390857

It's worth a try. Who's the director, any idea?

pinkypinky

His name is David Dillon.

See here the annual report from last year.

https://www.gov.ie/pdf/?file=https://assets.gov.ie/262826/a255389c-38d8-41f8-afd1-ae0dd5a3e8e0.pdf#page=null

From p19 of the report

Through a process of digitisation of historic registers, the Service has, with its partner, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, continued during 2022 to prepare historic records for public release. Work on preparing the oldest death registration records, those for 1865 to 1871, for online publication continued to be delayed due to priorities associated with managing the impact of Covid-19 on other parts of the service and the availability of technical resources.

Annual tranches of register records for birth, marriages and deaths continue to be made available in January each year as they reach the legal threshold for release (designed to protect the privacy of the living). The thresholds are: 100 years for births, 75 years for marriages and 50 years for deaths. Over 16 million civil registration records are now available online for members of the public anywhere in the World to access and research. The service provides free access.

pinkypinky

Shockingly, this isn't even the correct years! It's 1864-1870.

Mick Tator

It takes the Civil Service to come up with a lame excuse and blame Covid for the delay. The rest of the world has overcome that and moved on. Those numpties, working from home, unwilling to change, need to be managed and have manners put on them!

pinkypinky

I did my usual check of dates for each year yesterday and some people have replied to my tweet noting that late registrations of 1922 births are now open on the site, along with 1923 births on the same page. This means they have 1923 up, even though the indexes are not there yet!

https://x.com/cbgenealogy/status/1746631100871352441?s=20

Mick Tator

I checked during 2023 for a December 1922 birth and as it did not appear I guessed that the year of registration was 1923, which blocked publication. Earlier this month - maybe 10 days ago I checked again and the name, birth date and mother's birth name were there but no image. I got "There is currently no image to display. This may be because the record was registered or amended in a later year, or there are quality issues with the original image."

BowWow

Record site is down this morning - hopeful sign?

Mick Tator

@BowWow it's working for me.

BowWow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121623890#Comment_121623890

Thanks, back for me too...

euro_girl21

Hi, does anyone know if the Freedom of Information act applies to the GRO? If so one of the professional bodies could possibly make an application to find out about the process for determining the annual date of update and the current situation re the outstanding deaths up to 1871. It seems strange for a public body not to announce when the records are going to be made available each year by announcing the planned publication date or a proper update on the status of the older death records.

pinkypinky

Civil service a law unto itself.

I've spoken to senior people and they didn't really have any solid reason or excuse for why they haven't finished the digitisation. As far as they're concerned, the records are released, because you can go in (on the one day a week they're open to callers) or order it.

Hermy

It seems strange for a public body not to announce when the records are going to be made available each year by announcing the planned publication date or a proper update on the status of the older death records.

Yes, you'd imagine they'd be only too happy to announce the release of new records, but not so unfortunately.

Mick Tator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121647964#Comment_121647964

A Freedom of Information response is too narrow and IMO would not be of much use. The best options are either a Representation or Parliamentary Question (PQ).

The former is raised by a TD on behalf of a constituent or group of constituents, but it is a  cumbersome process. However, a combined approach by all the geno bodies might be successful.

A PQ is a question raised by a TD for oral or written answer. PQs can query any matter on policy, service issues, public interest, etc. Given previous comments by politicos on Genealogy Tourism, digitization, blah blah, etc, there are good grounds to pose a question as it is in the public interest particularly with the GRO Office closed for most of the time.

The best route would be for a TD to put the PQ to the Minister for Social Protection (responsible for the GRO). The question must be carefully worded as only the specific points raised will be addressed. Be prepared for blame-shift, waffle, platitudes and BS in any reply.

josip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121659581#Comment_121659581

It must be absolutely soul destroying to work in such a "not-my-job" environment, where over 5 years after the project was 'supposed' to be finished, there is zero oversight, nobody is motivated to complete the outstanding work and the only level you can 'escalate' anything to is the Leinster House circus.

Mick Tator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121660008#Comment_121660008

Nah, that’s not how it works. There are some very good civil servants in Ireland – they get moved to the better departments and better roles (even overseas) and rarely work in stolid areas. The slow-witted fester on in the dull zone and, after a time languishing there. even those with a little spark of ambition soon have it snubbed out. They concentrate on lifestyle, take all their annual and unvouched sick leave, and concentrate on maximising their allowances. A major coup is to dump on another Department's project (always seen as a rival) or a member of the public who is more successful but in their power.

Jellybaby_1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121661262#Comment_121661262

Crikey! On the flippin' nail there Mr T!

pinkypinky

There's a note on the homepage of Irishgenealogy today saying they'll be down for maintenance and updates on Saturday! Fingers crossed but breath definitely not held.

dubred

It is back online now, although there is no guarantee that the maintenance is complete and no sign of a 1923 birth record I am interested in.

pinkypinky

It's updated!

1923 births

1948 marriages

1973 deaths

And no sign of the earlier deaths. Let's keep it positive folks!

I've just got a few birth certs and my grandparents' marriage from the new haul.

Mick Tator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121622500#Comment_121622500

Had a look again - Got the same message as a message as above . It's academic as I already have the info., but the image should be there!

BowWow

I seem to be getting a large number of "no image available", but there is a transcript to view.