www.irishgenealogy.ie is a genealogy website run by the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and accessing the data is free.
The website now contains over 12.5 million Index records linked to 2.5 million historic register images of Births, Marriages and Deaths. Up to now, these historic records were only available by visiting the Public office of the GRO or by placing an order on-line.
Early birth registers contained the date and place of birth, name and sex of the child, name, surname and dwelling place of father, name, surname and maiden surname of mother, rank or profession of father, signature, qualification and residence of the informant, when registered and the signature of the registrar.
Early marriage registers contained the date when married, name and surname of the spouses, their age, condition (meaning marital status) rank or profession and residence at time of marriage, their fathers’ names, surnames and ranks or professions, where the marriage took place and by whom the marriage was witnessed and solemnised.
Early death registers contained the date and place of death, name and surname of deceased, sex, condition (meaning marital status), age last birthday, rank, profession or occupation of the deceased, certified cause of death and duration of illness, signature, qualification and residence of informant, when registered and the signature of the registrar.
In total the website contains over 15 million Index records covering the following years:
Births: 1864 to 1915
Marriages**: 1845 to 1940
Deaths: 1864 to 1965
**Roman Catholic Marriages were only recorded from 1864 onwards.
The website also contains over 3 million church records from Dublin, Cork and Kerry. Most of those records pre date civil registration. In addition, the website contains a web portal that allows people to do one search which will scan a range of records. The range of records includes the 1901 and 1911 Census Records, Tithe Applotment Records, Military Archives and Ellis Island records and Castle Garden Records (New York).
The Images of the registers of Marriage (pre 1882) and Deaths (pre 1891) are being updated by the General Register Office (GRO) and further years going back to when registration commenced will be added to the website in due course.