The Galway County Council has formally launched their Digital Archives. A small selection of the Archive's important and most requested collections and records have been digitised and are available on-line.  These include the Burial Ground Registers for Tuam from October 1882 to 1920 and the Clifden Poor Law Union archives, the latter consisting primarily of 84 Board of Guardians minute books dating from 1849 to 1921 (many gaps), together with some letter books and a diet book. The Galway Digital Archives can be found here:  http://www.galway.ie/en/Services/ArchivesService/OurDigitalArchive/ Reading about the poor law union prompted me to do a little more reading on the subject of poor laws and workhouses. Author Peter Higginbotham provides comprehensive information on the subject at his website, portions of which have been summarized below: The Poor Law Act of 1838 established 130 Irish poor law unions, with an additional 33 added in 1848-1850. The main provisions of the 1838 Act were:

• The division of the country into Poor Law Unions based on Irish electoral divisions which were themselves made up from townlands.
• The creation of a Board of Guardians for each Union, two-thirds of whom were to be elected, the other third to be appointed ex officio.
• The setting up of a workhouse in each Union.
• The collection of a local poor-rate to finance the system.
• Assistance for emigration.

By 1843 construction had been completed on 112 new workhouses. Even though the buildings were ready, many weren't occupied until much later because of insufficient poor-rate collections. The Poor Law Unions struggled continuously to house and feed the destitute. For those who did enter the workhouse, conditions were miserable. Dormitories were cramped and lacking ventilation. Diseases such as typhus fever and dysentery were widespread.  Workhouse inmates were typically given a breakfast of oatmeal and milk, a middle-of-the-day dinner of potatoes and milk, but no supper. Read more of Higginbotham's account of Irish workhouses at http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Ireland/.