About Civil Birth Record Indexes
By Sherry Irvine, MSC CG FSA Scot

From January 1st, 1864, all births had to be reported to a district registrar or sub-registrar. There was a single system of civil registration for the whole of Ireland until 1922. After that date there are two systems and two general register offices, one in Dublin for the 26 counties of the republic and one in Belfast for the 6 counties of Northern Ireland. There are annual national indexes to the registers, one volume per year until 1878, then quarterly volumes (i.e., four per year) until 1903, then annual again, with the addition of the mother’s maiden name. The indexes held by the two general registration offices may be summarized as follows: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has filmed the birth indexes from the beginning to the middle of the twentieth century. The holdings in the Family History Library that can be consulted on microfilm there or by using the network of Family History Centres are: Indexes also appear in the International Genealogical Index ™ (IGI) and in the British Vital Records Index (BVRI) on CD-ROM. There is no duplication of entries between these two indexes; IGI entries are taken from the earliest few years and BVRI entries may cover any year up to 1874 but are not complete for any single year. The entries in all LDS Church indexes contain more details than the official indexes - parental information and the parish name are included.

About Registers and Certificates
At Joyce House in Dublin or at the General Register Office in Belfast researchers are not permitted to handle the register volumes. Charges and arrangements for ordering certificate copies and official certificates suitable for passport applications vary. Complete records for all of Ireland up to 1921 are at both offices. From 1922 the offices hold records for their respective jurisdicitions. The offices in Dublin and Belfast maintain web sites and current information about charges and search arrangements can be found there (General Register Office Ireland - www.groireland.ie; General Register Office Northern Ireland - www.groni.gov.uk).

About half of the registers may be viewed on microfilm because copies are held in the Family History Library and can be accessed using microfilm loan in a Family History Centre. The registers available this way are: Keep in Mind
The holdings and the indexes of the FHL make it possible to search a significant portion of civil births records for yourself. If you prefer not to do this, or for periods not covered, then help in Ireland is required.

When planning your search, begin with an unbiased assessment of the validity of the facts already known, check on surname variations and the general distribution of the name. In fact, if you can look up the name in Matheson’s Special Report of Surnames in Ireland (Matheson, R., 1909 and rep. GPC, 1988) do so. It covers both these topics for a large number of surnames.

The authorities placed the obligation to register a child’s birth squarely in the hands of the population and there were penalties for failing to register. Even so, it is generally accepted that 10% or more births may not have been recorded; consult church records should this search fail.


Sherry Irvine, who lives in Courtenay, British Columbia, is an internationally known speaker and writer. She is the Course Director for Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd. She is author of Your English Ancestry and Scottish Ancestry: Research Methods for Family Historians. Her activities in 2007 include lectures at the Society of Genealogists in London, and a seminar course on British migration in Salt Lake City for the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History. She is a past president of the Association of Professional Genealogists.