Both Galway County and City Council should provide a research genealogical centre in the City Centre for the “Gathering”.
Cllr Nuala Nolan says that visitors coming to Galway for the “Gathering” will want to check records to find long lost relations or visit the areas where their ancestors have come from, we must do everything we can to facilitate them.
The Irish Family History Society West Centre at the Shantalla Community Centre has the computerized Parish/Civil BMD(Birth Death and Marriages) up about 1900 and much more. For East County Galway you have a similar centre in Woodford. Both Centres charge a research fee.
While these facilities are great they are not exactly suitable for visitors who may only have 4 or 5 hours in the City. The County and City Libraries do their best to help with queries but again they do not have the space or facilities to deal with the numbers who expected to arrive here in Galway from March onwards hoping to find relatives.
Cllr Nuala Nolan says that the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin has a Genealogy Porter, this is forward thinking. We need to start preparing so that visitors will not return home disappointed. If we act now can prevent this from happening.
Cllr Nuala Nolan,
Contact Number 086 4072622
