Irish Family History: A guide to sources of information

The majority of resources for family history research in the Republic of Ireland are only available locally in Ireland, either in Dublin or in the main county cities or towns. Very little information is currently available on-line.
See below for links to the main sources of information

For information about family history research in Northern Ireland, use the links from the general family history pages as a starting point.

National Library of Ireland: www.nli.ie
Follow the link from the Home Page to Family History.
One of the most useful sources on the site is the Index of Parish Register copies held by the National Library. This covers most of the Catholic Registers for the country – though one or two are still held locally by the Dioceses. See also Dublin City Archives information below.

General Registrar’s Office: www.groireland.ie
This site gives information about the civil registration of Births, Marriages & Deaths in Ireland and on how to obtain copies of certificates.

National Archives of Ireland: www.nationalarchives.ie
On the Home Page select the Genealogy tab.
The National Archives houses copies of the Census for Ireland 1901 & 1911 (earlier Censuses were destroyed in the Civil War in the 1920s), Griffiths Valuation and a large collection of Maps and Estate Documents – many of which are described on the website.

Dublin City Archives
Select Family History from the list on the Home Page.
Dublin City Archives has recently reopened and has a wealth of information for Dublin based family history research. They include: Church records including indexes to Baptisms, Marriages and Burials from a number of Dublin parish registers; Land records including Griffiths Valuation 1848-1862; Civil and Census records including Indexes of Births, Marriages and Deaths to the 1950s (with some gaps) from the GRO Dublin.

Irish Public Libraries
Use the links on the Genuki website or use a search engine to locate the website of the the Library you are interested in.
Most have some information for Family or Local History researchers, and some are excellent. (e.g. See Waterford Library Service’s website: www.waterfordcountylibrary.ie)

Genuki: www.genuki.co.uk
Follow the link to Ireland from the Home Page this will bring up a list of Irish counties – select the one you want for further information. The amount of information will vary from county to county.

Rootsweb Mailing Lists: www.rootsweb.com
From the Rootsweb.com website, click on Mailing Lists then select the country – in this case, Ireland. You should then get a list of Mailing Lists available.
Mailing lists allow you to communicate with other people researching the same area as you. You can submit requests for information on the Lists, but you don’t have to - every List has a searchable Archive and you can receive the digests without participating.
[N.B. It is recommended that you sign up for the Digest mode (e.g. IRL-WATERFORD-D) as you will receive a communication about once a week rather than several each day if you sign up for the alternative List mode].

General Family History

For general information and further help with researching, see the main Family History section of this website.