Society and Culture

It’s often said that people are Ireland’s most important export. Millions of people left their homes here to seek a better life in another country. For some it was a matter of choice, for most a matter of desperation.

Now their descendants are returning, keen to learn more about the stories of their grand parents and great grandparents. Genealogy has become big business.

Starting to trace your roots can seem a daunting task, but there are two things that make it quickly seem more manageable.

The first is that you almost certainly already know more than you think, and the second that there is a LOT of help and information already out there, if you know where to find it.

Official records in the past were not in the language of the people, Irish, but in either English or Latin, which can lead to a lot of confusion over names.

Dates too may be slightly inaccurate and a single place can have multiple names. How do you make sense of all this?

An overview of the major genealogical and other records of interest to you while tracing your ancestors in Ireland – with links to more detailed information about each.

Many Irish records are simply unavailable, they were destroyed by fire on two famous occasions in the past – but this isn’t as bleak a situation as it is often assumed to be.

Extensive civil records exist recording the births marriages and deaths in Ireland after 1864. Prior to that, the records are less complete.

This is a quick guide to finding those records – where they are stored and how you can get access to them.

Property and land holding records in Ireland are more important than they might otherwise be because of the absence of 19th century census records.

They are often the only way of filling in the gaps, and fortunately are very extensive. The downside is that many emigrants were not from land owning families.