Hello madPat,
We share a problem, then. If I lived in Ireland perhaps the two of us could help to free up the records that are buried under such heavy tomes.
Actually, the library staff there were models of courtesy and help. So I have no reason in the world to doubt what I was told. The lady in question would undoubtedly have broken her back trying to get at the relevant records if there were a chance she could succeed. And other staff in other agencies there were generous with their time and assistance. So I do not fault the staff. Rather, I think there could be a storage problem. That would cost money to put to right, and money is the one thing that is not available. However, I wonder if there is a legal requirement that burial records should be available, especially for police and judicial reasons? That could be a line to pursue. I would be reluctant to put any member of the staff under pressure on this account. But perhaps the county council might be the people to approach. Any thoughts of who? County Manager? What about freedom of information act? Or has that been scrapped? (Just think of all the money wasted on setting it up! Possibly the likely result would be the imposition of a hefty charge on getting access to any record which should be freely available to any citizen. And even though I live abroad, I still an a citizen!
For the moment I am chipping away in other directions, but will come back to it in the new year in the hope that the heavy tomes will have been moved.
Xotan/David.
