Have you ever heard the saying, “Everyone wishes they were Irish and those of us lucky enough to be so are proud of it”? Well, if you do have Irish ancestry, you have a bit of Irish luck today.
Finally, after a long wait, the General Record Office of Ireland has made millions of civil registers of birth, marriage and death available online on their state-run site, www.irishgenealogy.ie. On September 8, 2016 the following announcement was made from their website:
“The Indexes to Birth Records over 100 years, the Indexes to Marriage Records over 75 years and the Indexes to Death Records over 50 years are available to search.
The Birth Records Indexes date from 1864 to 1914, the Marriage Records Indexes date from 1845 (1864 for Roman Catholic Marriages) to 1939 and the Death Records Indexes date from 1864 to 1964.
Regular users of the site will also notice the enhancement of the Marriage Indexes, with both parties to the Marriage now being shown from 1882 onwards. “
What is even more incredible is that this is all available for free!
The Irish civil records can be searched by name, district, and year or browsed by district/office. We are now able to view digitized images of the full birth, marriage and death registers, instead of the basic indexes to the records that have been available on the website since 2014.
In many cases, genealogists will no longer have to order an official certificate or visit the General Register Office of Ireland in Dublin.
For privacy reasons, however, the indexes to births less than 100 years old, the indexes to marriages less than 75 years old, and the indexes to deaths less than 50 years old are not available.
Searching
From the home page, select church records.
When you begin your search, you will see the index information. Click on Image beneath it to see the scanned register. Often, you will find the mother’s maiden name, father’s occupation, street where they lived, cause of death, along with the date of the event.
Unfortunately, not all registers are available, and there is no mention in the Help section about when, if ever, the missing ones will be digitized. Depending on the registration district and time period, the availability of images can be a bit hit and miss. But the number of digitized registers currently available is astounding and we can only hope that there will be more added in the future.
To find the availability of an image, look for a number beside Group Registration ID. If it says, N/R, there is currently no image.
Good luck with finding your Irish ancestors!