Irish marriage records now back to 1913 at local registration offices

Thanks to Civil Registration ‏@civilreg_irl for the following tweet:

Our computerised Marriage Records are now available back to 1913 from any of our offices, nice bit of work went into that I bet!

Essentially this means that the provision of Irish marriage records has now been extended back from 1920 to the earlier year of 1913 if you order a digital copy from a local registration office in the Republic of Ireland (I assume also from the HSE website at www.hse.ie/eng/services/find_a_service/bdm/certificates_ie). This will be useful for all Ireland marriages from 1913-1921, and for the Republic only from 1922 onwards. Birth records are still available through the same service from 1864 (north up to 1921 only), and death records from 1924 (Republic only).

However, you would be crazy to order from this site or from local registration offices for genealogical research, unless you are wary of sending your credit card details by fax or post to the GRO in Roscommon (www.groireland.ie). The HSE and local offices charge 20 Euros each (plus postage) - the same entries are just 4 Euros each from the Irish GRO in a photocopied extract format.

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. For my other genealogy books, please visit  http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html; whilst for my online Scottish based genealogy courses please visit the Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd site.

Irish BMD certs suddenly double in cost

At present it is possible to order birth, marriage and death records in Ireland from 3 sources. From 1845 to the present day you can obtain records for what is now the Republic of Ireland from the Irish GRO in Roscommon (www.groireland.ie). This also offers records for the north from 1845-1921. The beauty with this site is the fact that you can order photocopies for genealogical research for just four Euros each, if you know the details of when and where an event happened. You can also get records for the north from 1845 to the present day from the GRO for Northern Ireland in Belfast, but at a whopping £15 per certificate.

There is a third way to obtain records, if you wish to do so online, and that is through the Republic's Health Services Executive site at www.hse.ie/eng/services/find_a_service/bdm/certificates_ie. Coverage is partial however - all Ireland births from 1864-1921, and from the Republic from 1922 onwards; all Ireland marriages from just 1920-1921, and for the Republic from 1922 to the present day; and deaths from 1924 for the republic only.

Unfortunately, both the HSE and the GRO in Roscommon have just DOUBLED the costs of their official certs to 20 Euros each. In Sterling that is £16.94 each - even higher than Belfast's costs of £15, the highest in the UK. However, the GRO's 4 Euro charge (£3.39) for an uncertified and photocopied extract remains the same.

Is this just blatant profiteering to coincide with the launch of the Irish indexes for such records on FindmyPast? Who knows - but never has a photocopy looked so beautiful...

Chris

Pre-order my new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, through Pen and Sword (30 April 2013), or purchase early at Who Do You Think You Are Live 2013 in London. For my other genealogy books, please visit  http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html; whilst for my online Scottish based genealogy courses please visit the Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd site.