Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 March 2024
358. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media when birth records will be available online (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10575/24]
View answerMy Department manages the Irish Genealogy website, www.irishgenealogy.ie that carries an array of church records. It also provides access to the historic civil records of Births, Deaths and Marriages in partnership with the Department of Social Protection.
Over 16 million civil registration records are available online and accessible to the public free of charge. The website attracts in excess of 4.5 million visits every year.
Access to personal data is subject to data protection controls. Birth records are accessible on the Irish Genealogy site when they are over 100 years old, marriage records are available after 75 years and death records after 50 years.
The website data on the Irish Genealogy site is refreshed in the first quarter of every calendar year and the refresh includes an additional year of records. This annual release of register data by the Civil Registration Service is part of the ongoing partnership between my Department and the Department of Social Protection.
An additional year of Births, Deaths and Marriages was added to the website on the 12 February 2024. The records now available online include birth register records for the years 1864 to 1923. The birth records for the years 1924 to 1930 will become available to public access over the years 2025 to 2031, as each 100 year threshold is reached.
