STEVEN C. FFEARY-SMYRL,
Madam, - With reference to the controversy surrounding the death of Joseph Pyke in 1958 (The Irish Times, November 7th and 9th), it comes as no surprise to those who regularly use the records of the General Register Office (GRO) to hear about clerical errors in transcriptions. The discovery of differences between the original, locally held records and the official transcripts held at the GRO in Dublin happens regularly.
Many errors are simple misspellings. However, I can vouch for having seen such varied errors as those relating to a deceased person's marital status; age; home address; and even misspelt forenames and surnames - all in records registered within the past 30 years.
In a more serious instance, when a friend's father died a few years ago, it turned out that the person who registered the death was a hospital porter. Ironically, when attempts were made shortly after to contact the porter, the Dublin hospital involved had to admit that not only had the porter been retired for a number of years, but was also no longer receiving a pension and was thus presumed dead. Enquiries at the GRO established that this porter's name regularly appeared on deaths registered at the hospital concerned.
Disturbingly, the GRO has made it known that when it publishes its forthcoming civil registration bill it intends to withdraw all original civil registers held at county level and replace them with digitised images of the transcribed records held centrally in Dublin. This would mean that in future it would be almost impossible for anyone, let alone The Irish Times, to establish discrepancies between records held in Dublin and those (formerly) held at county level. However, with regard to information on causes of death the GRO is actively considering the complete exclusion in future of such data in death certificates.
Surely the death of poor Joseph Pyke, which took place nearly 50 years ago, teaches us that the general public's right to a few basic facts about every citizen far outweighs the rights of the individual? - Yours etc.,
STEVEN C. FFEARY-SMYRL, Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland, Templemore Avenue, Rathgar, Dublin 6.