Genealogy Chat

Hi, Please can anyone tell me before I start searching, can I access records in Ireland on 1837 online? Thanks Sophie

No. It's England & Wales only on 1837. I don't think there are any Irish records online, but check Irish Roots section on this website by scrolling down the homepage. nell

Thanks Nell, I'll give that ago, didn't want to waste a load of credits looking for something that isn't there. Sophie

There are no Irish BMD records available anywhere online. You'll need to go to Ireland to search through the index manually.

To anyone out there who is trying to get hold of on line Irish records! I have been in correspondence with the Irish records folks about the dearth of on line data that exists. Seems it's a combination of church and state policy tho in fact most are computerised so previous (very valid) arguements about handling fragile records are now blown out of the water. This isn't helpful to you and me and it means that the only way to find things is either go there and look yourself or pay someone in one of the county data centres to do it for you (but you need to know you've got the right county as well as names and dates otherwise you are wasting your cash!) I think folks should nag the irish Government into giving access on- line. None of us expects a freebie doing geneaology and I'm sure like me many would welcome sight of Irish records on line. It's not just about money (and getting someone to do it for you isn't inexpensive) but you just don't get the same feeling of reward if someone else finds thing s for you. No problem with the odd thing (and we do all help each other out on genes) but if a whole chunk of your tree is in Ireland and your serious about geneaology ? You'll need a big cheque book! I have the same frustration with Scotland's people. On the one hand I am Scottish but live in England and having on line access to Scottish records is great up to a point. Not so good when you can't find what you need and the many errors in loading (I have frequent refunds because the pages don't match what I've asked for!). Also why do I certificates from Australia quicker than I do from Scotland ? (no kidding Oz takes a week and they take 3). I suppose it keeps it all in one place but if it's wrong it can be very frustrating ! I think we should all nag the Irish authorities! Ann

Ann Anyone who knows anything about Irish Records realises that most of the records were computerised years ago. Work started on this back in the late 1970's early 1980's, but the computerised records have also been in the charge of the various Heritage Centres that exist all over Ireland. To access these Heritage Centres you have always had to pay and have been unable to do the work yourself. There are many reasons for this and as Theresa has rightly pointed out that one of them is mistrust of the English. There are a couple of threads around to help people in their Irish History Research. One is Irish Research Tips which tends to be web addresses and my own thread on 'First Steps in Researching Irish Family History'(This thread is at present on P 6) In this I am trying to get people to understand that if you are serious about Irish Family History then it is up to each one of us to UNDERSTAND where Ireland, and therefore its history is coming from. Until you do understand at least some of this history then tracing Family History in Ireland will always be a struggle. Grumbling on about what the Irish should do or should not do with their records just shows some lack of understanding of the history. It is only VERY recently that England has made a very few of its records online and even in England, serious family history does not really start until you get into the County Record Offices or join a Family History Society and few of these records are online. The Republic of Ireland has not been beholden to the UK since 1949, when they left the Commonwealth, so why should they do what England may want them to do now?? Janet