The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland (VRTI) has been a hot topic this month, including our brief July 2 posting.

A kind reader pointed us to the July 9 issue of the Donegal Daily and an article titled “Researchers Note ‘Substantial Recovery’ of Lost Donegal Census Records From 1800s.” 

Dr Brian Gurrin, VRTI's Research Fellow and Census Specialist, is quoted: “… the project team has examined many of these genealogical collections in order to identify extracts from the census within their pages.”

“For Donegal, there are a smattering of census entries for parts of the county, but there are three clusters where substantial recovery has occurred,” Dr Gurrin added. These are: 

• 1821, Killymard parish, near Donegal Town.
• 1851, Gartan parish. Complete census records for about 15 townlands in the Glenveagh area.
• 1821, Clonmany and Desertegny civil parishes

More detail can be found in the newspaper article, including detailed instructions about accessing virtualtreasury.ie, (Note the website can be a little slow.)

Dr. Gurrin is going to present a webinar for IGSI in July 2026 about the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland.