Get Me Irish
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Free tool

Find Irish documents

Search the Irish birth, marriage, death, baptism and burial registers, view or download the original register page, and find out how to order the certificate your application needs.

  • Free, no account
  • Civil and parish registers
  • The whole island of Ireland

Start with a name

Enter a name in the search panel. You will see how many people carried that name, then add a district, a decade or a mother's maiden name until only your ancestor is left.

Searches the free public indexes of the General Register Office and the National Library of Ireland, via irishgenealogy.ie.

How to search

Irish civil registration of births began in 1864. For most Foreign Births Register applications, the record you need is your grandparent’s birth entry — here’s how to find it.

  1. Start broad

    Enter a first name and surname, choose Birth, and leave everything else blank. You’ll see how many people shared the name.

  2. Narrow it down

    Add a year range, the registrar’s district, or the mother’s maiden name — the quickest way to cut a common surname down.

  3. Check the original

    Open the record and view the scanned register page. Transcriptions can contain errors; the scan is what the certificate will say.

  4. Note the details

    Write down the full name, date, place and parents’ names exactly as registered. You’ll need them to order the certificate.

Next step

Order the official certificate

A scan or printout isn’t accepted for Foreign Birth Registration — you need an original, full birth certificate issued by the civil registration service. Order it from the office that holds the register.

Born in the Republic of Ireland

Records
Births from 1864, plus Northern Ireland births before 1922
Order from
HSE civil registration service
Cost
€20 per certificate, plus postage (€5 outside Ireland)
Order from the HSE

Born in Northern Ireland

Records
Births from 1864
Order from
General Register Office for Northern Ireland (GRONI)
Cost
£15 per certificate — ask for the long version, which shows the parents
Order from GRONI

Have these ready when you order: the full name at birth, date of birth, place of birth, the mother’s full birth name and the father’s name if recorded. The details from the scanned register page are exactly what the office will ask for.

Born before 1864? Civil registration hadn’t started, so there is no civil birth certificate. The Department of Foreign Affairs accepts a baptismal certificate instead — search the church records above to find the parish.

What you can search

The civil registers kept by the General Register Office, which begin in 1864 for births and deaths and 1845 for marriages, and the parish registers held by the National Library of Ireland, which reach further back where they survive. Records cover the whole island of Ireland.

What you get

The full transcribed entry and, for most civil records, the scanned page of the original register, which you can read here or download as a PDF. A scan is not a certified certificate.

Using records for an FBR application

Use the search to find the record and confirm the details, then order the certificate. The documents checklist lists everything else your application needs, and the eligibility checker confirms your route.