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Archiver > IRISH-AMERICAN > 2008-03 > 1205684061


From: "Lee Rogers" <>
Subject: [IRISH-AMER] Irish records on-line
Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2008 12:14:21 -0400


since leaving Ireland, i have come to realize what an economically unfriendly place it was. 60% of all government tax receipts are taken directly from individual citizens....the price for government pensions, government healthcare and the like.....and another 31% of all taxes received by the government are paid out for welfare programs. yes, the Irish are very warm and hospitable. what i mean to say is that the kind and generous people of Ireland are barely able to live there due to a general lack of work, low wages and high taxes. jobs may abound in dublin, but in far too much of the country the common way of life is unemployment or subsistence labor and farming. most hard-working Irish can't afford a computer or the monthly charges to connect to the internet.

for working Irish, income and vat taxes reduce an income of 32,000Euro to as little as 1,700Euro per month for living expenses. prices for everything in Ireland are very high. it is unlikely that many Irish in Ireland have resources to conduct family research at 10Euro per piece of what should reamain public information. what if the piece of information is not useful? why not an opportunity to peruse data before purchase? how many Euro must one spend before finding the piece of data that is desired?

i submit that the intent of the new arrangement is aimed at bringing significant money from overseas inquiries....namely the united states. as they say, there are more Irish in america than in Ireland.....the new all-Ireland database, as presented, is nothing more than a 'cash grab'. i, for one, will discontinue any and all research that requires me to pay such unreasonable fees for information.....information that was once public domain....information created at the expense of Irish citizens and then given to a private company for financial gain. how much of each 10Euro will be returned to the state of Ireland by the Irish family history association? surely, there must be something returned to the ministry of arts, sports and tourism?

an old Irish saying states; "if it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, walks like a duck, smells like a duck......it must be pig waste....i'm sure you get my meaning.

lee rogers
living in michigan, usa

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