HC Deb 30 June 1902 vol 110 cc303-4
MR. LEAMY (Kildare, N.)

To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the refusal of the Registrar General for Ireland of Births to permit the occasional use by officials of the Naas Union, for the purpose of transacting official business, of a room at the workhouse in which the filled registers are deposited, and which the superintendent registrar is entitled to use for the discharge of the duties of his office; whether, having regard to the fact that the use of this room by these officials entails no inconvenience on the superintendent registrar, and that the room will be instantly vacated whenever he requires it, the Chief Secretary will represent to the Registrar General the advisability of allowing the officials to continue to use the room, which has been built out of the rates, seeing that, if they are deprived of its use, it will be necessary to build at the public expense an office for their accommodation.

(Answer.) This room was provided by the Guardians as an office for the transaction of the business of the Superintendent Registrar of Births Deaths, and Marriages, and for the preservation of the records of the Registrar, who is responsible for their care and custody. There arc obvious objections to the use of this room, at any time, by officials who are in no way responsible for the custody of the records, and the Registrar General, with every desire to meet the wishes of the guardians, regrets he cannot consent to the appropriation of the room for purposes other than those for which it was provided by statute—(Irish Office.)