About

How CIGO Works

The council of CIGO meets on a bi-monthly basis and consists of two representatives from each of its constituent member organisations. In addition there is a chairman, honorary secretary, treasurer and two executive liaison officers.

The agenda for each meeting generally follows a fixed pattern, which having dealt with correspondence and housekeeping matters, then goes on to consider and discuss in detail current and longstanding issues affecting and pertinent to Irish genealogists. At any meeting the scope of issues discussed may range from impending legislation, (for example, relating to civil (vital) records); influencing central and local government policy; to the day-to-day service being provided at the General Register Office (GRO), National Archives of Ireland (NAI), Registry of Deeds (ROD) or the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI). To ensure that CIGO is both able to anticipate events and keep abreast of developments as they happen we have designated two members of Council - our executive liaison offers - with a specific brief to monitor matters of interest in the Republic and Northern Ireland respectively. Council sets policy and reaches decisions by consensus.

Our Activities

Continuous effort to improve public service at the General Register Office Dublin (GROI) and other state record repositories, by initiating discussions with the responsible authorities.
Constructive criticism of impending legislation. We were to the fore in obtaining changes to the Civil Registration Act 2004; and in particular we lobbied successfully for changes to the Bill providing for fuller information to be recorded in all future death registrations in Ireland.
Official membership of advisory bodies, such as the users’ groups of Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) and General Register Office Northern Ireland (GRONI).

Availing of opportunities to influence government policy in relation to genealogy. In recent times we have presented submissions to the National Library of Ireland (NLI), GROI, Registry of Deeds (ROD), GRONI. In relation to GRONI our involvement was successful in getting a reversal in draft policy set to deny access to many civil (vital) records.