Where can I see Catholic parish registers for Ireland, and what dates survive?
At registers.nli.ie, the free site of the National Library of Ireland, which holds images of the surviving Catholic parish registers for the whole island. The collection runs from the 1740s to about 1880, but most registers start much later, commonly in the 1820s and in some parishes only in the 1860s, and survival varies parish by parish. The images are arranged by parish and are not indexed by name on the Library site, so the parish has to be known first, usually from a census return or a civil record. The entries are mainly baptisms and marriages, with burials recorded only in some parishes.
Useful pages: The Irish surnames map · Trace your Irish roots · The 1926 Census guide · Coming home · Irish around the world · Plan your journey
Sources
- National Library of Ireland: Catholic parish registers, registers.nli.ie
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