The National Archives of Ireland
The following words of wisdom are based on my own experiences. Please get in touch if you can add to this advice with your own observations.
What is this archive and what might you find there?
The National Archives of Ireland (NAI) are located in Bishop St., not far from St. Patrick's Cathedral. They are in a modern building that dates from 1992, having taken over from the Public Record Office of Ireland previously housed at the Four Courts. Various state and court papers have naturally found their retirement home here, but sadly there is also a huge amount of historical material that never made it to these new premises, having been lost in 1922.
In fact, spare a thought for Herbert Wood, Assistant Deputy Records Keeper, who published his "Guide to Public Records deposited in the Public Record Office of Ireland" in 1919, only to see it rendered mostly obsolete a mere 3 years later (Sean Murphy has prefaced this version with a very good essay that tells more of Herbert's story.) Having said that, much effort has been put into trying to recreate parts of the collection from alternative sources - see my page on the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland for example.
How to find your way to treasure in this archive, remotely or in person?
Let's start with the website...
Database Collections
There have been various different NAI website pages over the years that have, rather splendidly, provided FREE access to lots of lovely Irish genealogical records and images including surviving censuses, will indexes, calendars and registers and land records for tithes and valuations.
Over the last few years though, the NAI has had several rebranding exercises, resulting in new logos, styles, animations(!) and some bewildering navigation quite frankly. Come the release of the 1926 census and yet another new design emerged, one that looks like it might become the standard across the rest of the site. However, the really big issue as I write in August 2026, is that the NAI suddenly took the vast majority of their older legacy databases offline with very little warning. Somewhat alarmingly and very unhelpfully, many of the old links will now flash up an insecure internet connection message before timing out. There has been no explanation for why this action has been taken without warning and no timetable for when the new updated versions will be back online. Perhaps something broke behind the scenes that could no longer be patched up, or maybe the NAI are just not very good at project management?
Which collections are affected? The good news is that those in turquoise blue below are live links to NAI census collections that are still working. The rest in dark red, I'm afraid are currently not available. However don't despair as the same records, and perhaps the same images, might be available via a different channel - follow the green and blue links to find out more.
There is a new page, Search the Collections, that highlights several other collections that ought to be very informative on the social history of Ireland. I will have to explore them further to see if they can be searched for kin. You will also spot a box on this page for their Genealogy Website, don't get too excited as it currently extols in bland management speak that there is nothing there!
Catalogue and Finding Aids
The NAI Catalogue has never been a thing of beauty and I confess I've wrestled with it infrequently myself before giving up. You are as usual at the mercy of generations of archivists and their own predilections for cataloguing. The basic search screen is the usual "letterbox Scrabble" affair where you have to sort of know what you're looking for in order to find it! There does not seem to be a facility for browsing the catalogue easily by category, which would be hugely helpful in trying to understand the archiving logic.
As far as I am aware there is no Irish equivalent of Amanda Bevan's, "Tracing your ancestors in the National Archives", which is your guide to the British records held at Kew, London. However, I previously found a Guide to the National Archives of Ireland written from much personal experience on the part of well-known Irish genie, Sean Murphy, so see if he can help you unravel the mysteries of this venerable institution. Please note, this link is to an archived web-page so I'm not sure if all the sub-links work.
Consult the NAI Guides to Collections page to see if there is something there to help you learn about unfamiliar records. Buried on another page is a link to "How to find a Will" and the Testamentary Records page has some context for these records but don't follow the link for the 1858-1922 records - it points to the disabled database!!!!
Visiting the Archives
If you do visit in person, then read their Plan Your Visit page carefully to make sure you are aware of the practicalities of gaining access to the Reading Room etc. There is also a free genealogy service available with an accredited genealogist, which I can't comment on it as I have not taken advantage of it myself.
Having whinged, it's only fair now to give the NAI a huge vote of thanks for the marvellous resources that they have put on-line with some very good source-specific search screens giving access to high quality digitised images for free. I do hope that the relaunched resources when they reappear are a big improvement on what went before, but I do fear that the online catalogue is going to become the default interface for everything other than the censuses...
What is this archive and what might you find there?
The National Archives of Ireland (NAI) are located in Bishop St., not far from St. Patrick's Cathedral. They are in a modern building that dates from 1992, having taken over from the Public Record Office of Ireland previously housed at the Four Courts. Various state and court papers have naturally found their retirement home here, but sadly there is also a huge amount of historical material that never made it to these new premises, having been lost in 1922.
In fact, spare a thought for Herbert Wood, Assistant Deputy Records Keeper, who published his "Guide to Public Records deposited in the Public Record Office of Ireland" in 1919, only to see it rendered mostly obsolete a mere 3 years later (Sean Murphy has prefaced this version with a very good essay that tells more of Herbert's story.) Having said that, much effort has been put into trying to recreate parts of the collection from alternative sources - see my page on the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland for example.
How to find your way to treasure in this archive, remotely or in person?
Let's start with the website...
Database Collections
There have been various different NAI website pages over the years that have, rather splendidly, provided FREE access to lots of lovely Irish genealogical records and images including surviving censuses, will indexes, calendars and registers and land records for tithes and valuations.
Over the last few years though, the NAI has had several rebranding exercises, resulting in new logos, styles, animations(!) and some bewildering navigation quite frankly. Come the release of the 1926 census and yet another new design emerged, one that looks like it might become the standard across the rest of the site. However, the really big issue as I write in August 2026, is that the NAI suddenly took the vast majority of their older legacy databases offline with very little warning. Somewhat alarmingly and very unhelpfully, many of the old links will now flash up an insecure internet connection message before timing out. There has been no explanation for why this action has been taken without warning and no timetable for when the new updated versions will be back online. Perhaps something broke behind the scenes that could no longer be patched up, or maybe the NAI are just not very good at project management?
Which collections are affected? The good news is that those in turquoise blue below are live links to NAI census collections that are still working. The rest in dark red, I'm afraid are currently not available. However don't despair as the same records, and perhaps the same images, might be available via a different channel - follow the green and blue links to find out more.
- 1901 & 1911 Censuses
- 1926 Census
- 19thC Census Fragments
- 1841 / 1851 Census Search Forms (Proof of age for Old Age Pensions introduced in 1908 for persons aged 70+) (See FMP (£))
- Tithe Applotment Books, 1823-1837 (see Tithe Applotment Books & Tithe Defaulters)
- Valuation Office Books, 1824-1856 (see Griffith's Valuation)
- Diocesan and Prerogative Wills, 1595-1858 (see Midnight Feasts - Hunting for Irish Wills)
- Will Calendars, 1858-1920 (see Midnight Feasts - Hunting for Irish Wills)
- Will Registers, 1858-1900 (see Midnight Feasts - Hunting for Irish Wills)
- Soldiers Wills from the First World War (see Midnight Feasts - Hunting for Irish Wills)
- Diocesan and Prerogative Marriage Licence Bonds Indexes, 1623-1866 (see Midnight Feasts - Hunting for Irish Marriages)
- Catholic Qualification and Convert Rolls, 1700-1845 (see Irish Roman Catholic Parishes & Registers)
- Crew and Shipping Records, 1860-1921 (See FamilySearch, FMP (£) and Anc(£))
There is a new page, Search the Collections, that highlights several other collections that ought to be very informative on the social history of Ireland. I will have to explore them further to see if they can be searched for kin. You will also spot a box on this page for their Genealogy Website, don't get too excited as it currently extols in bland management speak that there is nothing there!
Catalogue and Finding Aids
The NAI Catalogue has never been a thing of beauty and I confess I've wrestled with it infrequently myself before giving up. You are as usual at the mercy of generations of archivists and their own predilections for cataloguing. The basic search screen is the usual "letterbox Scrabble" affair where you have to sort of know what you're looking for in order to find it! There does not seem to be a facility for browsing the catalogue easily by category, which would be hugely helpful in trying to understand the archiving logic.
As far as I am aware there is no Irish equivalent of Amanda Bevan's, "Tracing your ancestors in the National Archives", which is your guide to the British records held at Kew, London. However, I previously found a Guide to the National Archives of Ireland written from much personal experience on the part of well-known Irish genie, Sean Murphy, so see if he can help you unravel the mysteries of this venerable institution. Please note, this link is to an archived web-page so I'm not sure if all the sub-links work.
Consult the NAI Guides to Collections page to see if there is something there to help you learn about unfamiliar records. Buried on another page is a link to "How to find a Will" and the Testamentary Records page has some context for these records but don't follow the link for the 1858-1922 records - it points to the disabled database!!!!
Visiting the Archives
If you do visit in person, then read their Plan Your Visit page carefully to make sure you are aware of the practicalities of gaining access to the Reading Room etc. There is also a free genealogy service available with an accredited genealogist, which I can't comment on it as I have not taken advantage of it myself.
Having whinged, it's only fair now to give the NAI a huge vote of thanks for the marvellous resources that they have put on-line with some very good source-specific search screens giving access to high quality digitised images for free. I do hope that the relaunched resources when they reappear are a big improvement on what went before, but I do fear that the online catalogue is going to become the default interface for everything other than the censuses...
(c) Irish Geneaography - 2026
[R-IA&L-NAI]
[R-IA&L-NAI]
