Census project 'on a shoestring'

Madam, – Completion of the current phase of the online publication of the 1911 Census, (Home News, August 29th), is a remarkable achievement by the National Archives of Ireland.

The Irish Census project is exceptional both in its scope and in its accessibility, free on the web to anyone who wishes to use it. It is being managed on a shoestring by a chronically underfunded institution, housed in cramped and unsuitable premises in a former government warehouse in Bishop Street, Dublin. It compares extremely favourably with the equivalent British project mounted at considerable expense by the UK National Archives.

In the past year Irish public servants have grown used to endless attacks for alleged inefficiency, wastefulness and negligent stewardship of the economy. Many of these come from commentators in your own newspaper, including some who enjoyed lucrative directorships of, or consultancies with, the very financial institutions whose current troubles they now ascribe largely to poor regulation by gullible civil servants. The Irish people should be thankful that modestly paid officials of the National Archives remain committed to and capable of such a dramatic and democratic innovation as the Census project. This is just one of many tasks which only people and institutions imbued with an ethos of public service can discharge effectively. – Yours, etc,