Record Atlas
34 FamilySearch collections · 5 archives · 2,153 places · 1179–1958

Ireland

Where the records of Ireland are, who holds them, and what it costs to look. 94,672,480 indexed records reachable through FamilySearch alone.

Where to start in Ireland

3 of the 5 checked sources here can be opened tonight. 3are free images with no account. 2are paid or part-paid. On top of that, 9 worldwide services reach Ireland without a subscription.

Write to IrishGenealogy.ie, National Archives of Ireland, National Library of Ireland — Catholic Parish Registers, PRONI — Public Record Office of Northern Ireland for what is not online. FamilySearch has 34 collections covering it, running 1179–1958, 94,672,480 indexed records. One piece of this ground is mapped for jurisdiction, so the atlas can say whose archive held it in a given year.

2,153 places placed, 1 volume walked. Open Ireland on the map, or tell us what is missing.

Whose archive this ground was

Record regions mapped in Ireland — which empire held the ground, and therefore which archive holds its paper.

The archives

  • Findmypast paid

    Commercial. The strongest British and Irish collection, including parish registers licensed from diocesan archives and the 1921 census of England and Wales. BT 27 IS NOT ONE FORM AND ITS COLUMNS ARE NOT A CONSTANT. The outward passenger lists were re-drawn across the series, so a field present in one piece proves nothing about another and the era has to be checked before a row is planned around it. Sampled by the Luwinski archive: the 1907 form has NO «last address in the United Kingdom» column at all and buckets ages by nationality instead; the 1937 and 1939 form — printed «P.M. 21», columns (1)–(9) — carries last UK address at (6), country of last permanent residence at (8) and country of intended future permanent residence at (9); a 1951 piece is a typed US military transport manifest filed inside BT 27 with none of the Board of Trade form left. ACROSS EVERY REVISION SEEN, none gives an address in the DESTINATION country — the finest is a country and nothing below it, so «where in Australia did they settle» is not a question this series answers.

  • IrishGenealogy.ie free Dublin, Ireland

    Irish civil registration images and church records, free and without an account. The single best free national source in these islands.

  • National Archives of Ireland free Dublin, Ireland

    What survived 1922 and what was rebuilt since — the 1901 and 1911 censuses in full and free, Tithe Applotment books, wills and the census fragments recovered from other collections.

  • National Library of Ireland — Catholic Parish Registers free Dublin, Ireland

    Every surviving Irish Catholic parish register to 1880, photographed and free. Browse only — no index.

  • PRONI — Public Record Office of Northern Ireland mixed Belfast, United Kingdom

    The record office for the six counties, and the reason Ulster research is not as badly burnt as the rest of Ireland: PRONI held copies and estate papers that were never in the Four Courts. Church records, wills, valuation revision books.

And 12 worldwide providers reach Ireland too — the full list.

34 FamilySearch collections

Grouped by the ground each one covers, nationwide. A free account opens the images; some are restricted to a Family History Centre.

Ireland — nationwide 34

8 more collections, contributed

A directory David assembled, sorted by what kind of record each one is. Read this differently from the rest of the page. The descriptions are his, not an archive's catalogue, and nobody here has opened the volumes behind them. Every link was tried on 2026-09-20 and answered; the ones that did not are not listed.

Church and parish registers 5
Civil registration and vital records 1
Censuses and population lists 3
Probate, land and notarial 5
Military and wartime 2
Cemeteries and burials 1

2,153 places, 1 volumes

The 250 carrying the most collections are listed; 1,903 more are in Ireland and on the map. Every place lists them all.

Every country · The map