Personally, I think part of the problem is its name. It's not snappy, it's a tad earnest, and the word 'parliament' is a turn-off for many family historians who imagine it to be aimed only at academic historians and political researchers.
In fact, when you venture into the site, you find a much more accessible description: 'DIPPAM is a virtual online archive of documents and sources relating to the history of Ireland, and its migration experience from the 18th to the late 20th centuries'.
Anyway, to get back to the purpose of this blogpost... I was pleased to see that Townland of Origin, one of the few blogs I follow, has recently published a series of articles about DIPPAM. The blog is written by Kilkenny man Joe Buggy, who now lives in the US, and is aimed at North-Americans of Irish heritage who are trying to unravel their roots. The most difficult task for many is locating the place their immigrant ancestors left behind.
Joe's four-part series about DIPPAM has concentrated on the Irish Emigration Database, one of the three constituent parts of the archive. He's provided some cracking examples of the gems inside it, gems that provide an individual's exact or close address in Ireland or details of relationships or passenger ships that could open up new doors of research.
The series can be found at Townland of Origin: Part 1, Part II, Part III, and Part IV.
DIPPAM is being developed by Queen's University Belfast, the Mellon Centre for Migration Studies, University of Ulster, and Libraries Northern Ireland. Click the image to visit the site.