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The accessibility of Irish family history records has improved substantially in recent years with a lot of the records now been available online.  The larger repositories of records are available free online. Other information is available through subscription websites. When researching Irish records that can give us information on our ancestors there are a number of primary sources that can be used. The primary records that are online and are free to access at this stage are:

• Census Records – 1901 and 1911 Census records are available at http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/  – these records give details of household on the night of each census.
• Griffith’s Primary Valuation of Ireland – these records are available at http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/  – these records record details of occupiers of property and were prepared during the 1840s and 1850s. The records only record the name of the head of household.
• Tithe Applotment Books – there records are available at http://titheapplotmentbooks.nationalarchives.ie/search/tab/index.jsp  – these records record details of occupiers of property and were prepared during the period 1823 to 1837. Records for only some years are online and in a number of cases only one year is online. Again the records only record the name of the head of household.
• Church and Civil Records of Births, Marriages and Deaths – these records are available at https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/  – these records record Church and Civil Records of Births, Marriages and Deaths. Civil Registrations for Roman Catholic births, marriages and deaths started in 1864. For a number of parishes there are records for periods prior to 1864 though there are gaps in the records.

When researching family history it is critical that you are able to identify the area where your ancestor lived. In a rural area this may be a townland or a village. In an urban area it may be a street in a town. As the search area widens it will get more difficult to identify your ancestor as there are likely to be a number of people with the same name as your ancestor. having information on your ancestors parents and siblings will help in identifying the correct family.