Subscription / Pay-per-View Websites
There are several websites that you are going to have to pay for to further your Irish research, either by buying a subscription or paying-per-view (PPV) using purchased "credits" - investigate the options on the relevant pages of each site.
Northern Ireland Only
- Roots Ireland = The Irish Family History Foundation's (IFHF) site for online access to births, marriages, deaths and some other selected records for most of the counties of Ireland (excluding Carlow, Dublin City, Kerry and Cork (South) which are covered by the free Irish Genealogy site.) This is now a subscription only site with no more free searches allowed. This site enjoys a bit of a monopoly on a lot of church records and is not without its flaws (covered on my Church of Ireland Parishes & Registers page for more information.) Bear in mind that there are no record images available for you to check yourself, only transcriptions. The coverage is by no means complete for every county - check the sources page for each one very carefully BEFORE you start searching as there may be none of the types of records you seek at all, especially burials!
- FindMyPast Ireland = FindMyPast Ireland or FindMyPast UK with a worldwide subscription appear to provide access to the same Irish data sets on either site - study their prices to see what works for you. I will admit I'm not a fan of their site design re: search interface and their source citations are terrible, but if you persevere there are some really good Irish resources on this site, many of them unique - check out their Irish data sets. Quite frankly though, I think the subscription is worth the access to the Irish newspapers alone
- Ancestry = With a Premium subscription from the UK site you have access to their Irish datasets. Some like the Civil Registration Indexes are available on other sites, but I prefer the search screens on Ancestry. One of the real finds for me on this site were selected Irish Catholic Parish registers, although you will probably have to dredge up some of your schooldays Latin!
- ScotlandsPeople = The official Scottish record site, which you will need to consult if you discover that some of your Irish kin actually moved to Scotland. The records are very detailed and this could be the key to solving some people puzzles for whom the records may not exist for any more in Ireland e.g. finding a sibling's death in Scotland that lists the names of both parents. You will need to purchase credits to view actual records but all results pages are free.
Northern Ireland Only
- GRONI = General Record Office of Northern Ireland PPV site for civil registrations of births, marriages and deaths. You will have to register and purchase at least 1 credit to be able to search the indexes. There are some quirks to the site so be sure to read the search advice carefully. I've made my own observations at "NI BMDs - GRONI v the rest" and Chris Paton has plenty to say about the site under the GRONI label on his blog, British Genes.
- Emerald Ancestors and the Ulster Historical Foundation are both commercial sites that appear to have the usual BMD records and their own unique offerings. I've not really used either site much and with the launch of the GRONI site for BMDs, I recommend that you study what else they have on offer to decide whether they are good value for you.
(c) Irish Geneaography - 2020
