More than 15.5 million Irish family records are now available online free of charge.
The Irish government made more Irish birth, death, and marriage certificates available online for free in early 2020, bringing the number of records available online to over 15.5 million.
The full range of Irish records now available online are:
- Birth records from 1864 to 1920
- Marriage records from 1845 to 1945
- Death records from 1878 to 1970
The records, available online at IrishGenealogy.ie, can be accessed free of charge.
The marriage records being launched are non-Catholic marriages only, as civil registration of Catholic marriages did not commence until 1864. Marriages from 1845 to 1945 are now available online in a variety of image and digital formats.
Some 1.5 million death records covering 1864 to 1877 were put online in 2020.
Regarding the release of more Irish records, Josepha Madigan TD, then-Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht said in January 2020: "This annual release of birth, marriage, and death register data by the Civil Registration Service is part of an ongoing partnership between my Department and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection.
“The aim is to make all of these historic records freely available and easily accessible to all members of the public both at home and throughout our Diaspora.”
Delighted to announce new register records are now available to the public on the https://t.co/YldCtTayUO website!?
➡️Birth records–1864 - 1919
➡️Marriage records–1845 -1944
➡️Death records–1878 - 1969A rich tapestry of Irish history ? #Genealogy #History @welfare_ie pic.twitter.com/mUTavlbL3Y
— ⚖️Josepha Madigan (@josephamadigan) January 8, 2020
Regina Doherty TD, former Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection (which has responsibility for the Civil Registration Service) said: “I am delighted to see the completion of the project to make all historical civil marriage register records available for public access via the www.irishgenealology.ie website.
“The marriages project has taken a number of years to complete - given the condition of some of the older records – but all historic marriages are now accessible online for the first time. This is a great achievement for the Civil Registration Service and ensures the preservation of these valuable records in digital format for the future”.
"The site is continuously being improved and enriched with very valuable records. It is indeed a rich tapestry of Irish history on a very accessible platform and is available for all to use for free.”
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"This important work will continue. Our departments will continue to work together to digitize and make available further historical records over the coming months and years.”
A separate joint project between the two Departments has allowed the publication of a number of other registers held by the Civil Registration Service. These registers include a record of Irish personnel killed during World War 1, army registers relating to births, deaths, and marriages; similar registers maintained by the consular services.
Have you used IrishGenealogy.ie to research your Irish roots? Tell us about it in the comments!
*Originally published in January 2020. Updated in April 2023.
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