MAJOR news - GRONI online service details revealed - subject to final Assembly approval

YES!!!! The GRO in Belfast has listened to folk about its forthcoming online records service for post 1845/1864 records, and most importantly, its online costs will be affordable - VERY affordable - in comparison with the current situation. The North of Ireland Family History Society has a full report at https://www.facebook.com/notes/north-of-ireland-family-history-society/one-to-look-out-for-good-news-about-forthcoming-online-service-for-birth-marriag/656034277788663

A summary of the important bits!

• The site may be available from March 14th if all goes according to plan - final enabling legislation still has to approved by the NI Assembly at Stormont.
• For those not visiting the GRONI offices but searching from home, only “historic” records will be available. This means: births – over 100 years, marriages – over 75 years, deaths – over 50 years
• More recent records, ie right up to current registrations and after the 100/75/50 year cut-off dates for online access, will be available via computers in the Search Room at GRONI in Belfast.
• The basic index search will be free & has limited details such as the year of the event & some names to hopefully narrow down the results. An enhanced search is chargeable & will show the actual date as well as more names & details such as ages. You can then decide whether or not to pay to view the actual record.
• There will be an option to automatically search for name variants eg to search for Smith & Smyth in case different spellings were used.

And on cost:

• At the GRONI office, the Search Room access cost will reduce from £14 to £7 per day. The current verification process will be replaced by personal access to records via the computer terminals.
• Online, the basic index search will be free, the enhanced index search will cost 1 credit (£0.40) and viewing an actual record will cost 5 credits (£2.00).

Visit the society's page for the full details.

COMMENT: A wee bit more expensive than ScotlandsPeople, with a few more restrictions on access (unless going to Belfast). But Northern Ireland - this is OUR year for genealogy!!!!

Chris


My latest genealogy books are Tracing Your Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records, and Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet. My next Pharos course is Scottish Research Online, which commences Feb 27th 2014, 5 weeks, price £45.99.