Census may attract tourists, says Minister

THE DECISION to place the 1901 census online could lead to thousands of visitors coming to Ireland, Minister for Tourism Mary Hanafin has said.

Since its launch earlier this month, 748,000 people worldwide have attempted to trace their Irish roots and the website has had 64 million hits to date.

The 1901 census follows on the successful 1911 census, which has attracted 7.2 million inquiries to date. It will be launched in New York on Monday and in London next Friday in an attempt to make it known to the Irish diaspora.

“The next step is to get all those people who are looking for their roots and their families to come here,” she said.

Ms Hanafin was speaking at the launch of the Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI) Discovery maps series, which covers Ireland in minute detail.

The 92 maps are updated to include all the latest infrastructural developments.

Nine new Discovery maps have been published covering the most-visited parts of Ireland, including west Cork, west Kerry, Dublin city and north Wicklow. Similar maps are being developed for the rest of the country .

Ms Hanafin said detailed maps including the names of townlands were critical in helping people to find their ancestral backgrounds.

“More and more we are going to have people visiting townlands checking where old churches are, and they are going to want good maps,” she said.

The new maps will contain information on walking trails, suggested loop walks, summits and mountain rescue numbers.

OSI chief executive Geraldine Ruane said the maps reflected the increasing popularity of outdoor pursuits. The OSI will update its online public viewer next week, which will allow the public to see how much the country has changed since 1995.

Viewers will be able to juxtapose aerial maps from 1995 with those carried out during the Celtic Tiger years. Historical maps dating back to 1830 will also be available online.