Parish Registers

St Mary's Church, Clonmel, Tipperary [Ireland:
its scenery, character & c; volume II; page 67]

When searching in the period prior to civil registration; before 1845 for non-Catholic marriages and before 1864 for births, Catholic marriages and deaths, you will need to consult church registers where baptisms, marriages and burials are recorded. Of course, these events continued to be recorded by the church, so do not discount parish registers as an additional source after these dates.

To use parish registers, you will need to have some idea of where in Ireland your ancestor was living. An invaluable source of information about the location and extent of parish registers are the following publications which should be used together:
Guide to Irish parish registers
New genealogical atlas of Ireland

Genuki Ireland
The Genuki website also has useful information about parish registers for some counties.

FamilySearch
One of the most important sources for parish registers is the extensive collection of microfilmed material available from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Some of this material has been indexed on their website.
You may also like to check the International Genealogical Index (IGI) which is available on the old FamilySearch website. Please note, however, that the IGI contains births and marriages, not deaths. If you do find the entry you want in the IGI, you should always consult the microfilm of the original document which often has additional information. Microfilms can be ordered for a small fee from any of the FamilySearch Centres located around the world. Check the Library Catalogue to see what is available and obtain the relevant microfilm number for ordering.

Findmypast Ireland - available in the State Library building
There are some parish registers, particularly marriages, on Findmypast Ireland.

Roots Ireland
This is the website of the Irish Family History Foundation. It has an online database of over 18 million parish register transcriptions. Not all counties are included so you need to check the map for availability. The database is free to search and pay-per-view for the full details.

British Isles Vital Records Index
This index covers England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and has over 10 million birth and christening records and nearly 2 million marriage records for the following periods:

• Baptisms 1530-1906
• Marriages 1538-1940

Irish parish records
Some parish records for the counties of Antrim, Down and Louth are available on this CD-ROM.

Ancestry library edition - available in the State Library building and in most public libraries in Western Australia
There are some parish registers for Ireland available on Ancestry.

Other online sources

Use our SLWA Family History Bookmarks to find other websites with Irish births, marriages and deaths. Try general headings such as ireland-deaths or look under more specific areas e.g. ireland-clare.