Dara
That post of yours sums up the situation today very well. It has been clear to me for years that you are correct in saying
, I can see how a Government Minister and the Churches might have been taken in by the IFHF. In fairness, it was a good idea for training and experience purposes to have unemployed people keying in Parish Records on a FAS scheme. At the time it happened nobody said no. Unemployment was high and anything that might lead the way out of recession was welcomed. Potentially, somewhere out there in the future, it might lead to an increase in tourism. The Minister bought the story. It sounded good at the time.
The Celtic tiger has gone back to Dublin zoo or Bengal now by the way! The problem with "Heritage Centres" (well that is what they call themselves, perhaps they could be had under a Trade Description Act if Ireland has one) existed well before the Celtic Tiger roamed the bogs of Ireland!
We can chat about it here on RootsChat or other Genealogical sites. We can chat about it amongst ourselves until we get bored with the discussion and move on. Can we do anything to change what we all agree is a bad situation?
I think that there are an number of things here that materially effect the situation
1. The legal situation. Nobody seems to know exactly what rights IFHF have over THE NATIONS records. If, as I suspect, the rights have been signed away, we do not know whether that is in the long term or if the deal ends at some point. It might be an idea to find out, if anyone is able.
2. Nobody, either politicians, or the churches, wish to be shown to have made bad decisions in the past. To get them to change their minds would be difficult, even if they were free to do so from a legal point of view
3. I am not sure how you "educate" people who have not tried to work within the genealogical situation in Ireland. That is finding records in general in Ireland, not just with the IFHF. It is only really when you have that knowledge that you can see why people like us are getting upset. For example we had a post early on in this thread from the RootsChat copyright editor saying basically that IFHF were nice people doing a good job, and we were moaners not being prepared to put up with their terms and conditions. RootsChat copyright editor has presumably followed this thread and has avoided adding to their original post. If they do not understand why there is a problem, then what hope is there of convincing a politician or a cleric?
4. Letters certainly will do no good. I remember trying that route when I had problems with Nenagh Heritage Centre refusing to let me look at books that they had in their office. You end up sending lots of letters to people who think you are complaining about 5€, and who do not understand the implications.
5. A petition may work better than the 1926 petition. The legal constraints behind not releasing that - people still alive today, who were protected by a long release date when the forms were filled up in 1926 - are very strong. As perhaps are the moral constraints. I do not want to get into an argument with anyone on 1926 - just saying that the BMD records are different. I would certainly support a petition, if anyone organises it
6.
My own view is that "salvation" lies in the new site that the government appears to be behind - the one with Kerry and Dublin parish records. It would be useful if someone could find out what their long term plans are with that site. I can see their short term plans are to add a couple more areas not covered by IFHF, and there are a couple more "red counties" on IFHF map that can be done. But fundamentally at some point they have to "take over" counties from IFHF or run in competition to IFHF (which would happily put IFHF out of business in that county). What are their plans in those situations.
Meanwhile IFHF are running a very poor service, and laughing into their socks all the way to the bank reading customer toothless gripes such as ours. If people like RootsChat Copyright Editor are not convinced that IFHF are exploiting public records, then it would be difficult to convince politicians or clerics!
