How to find someone in Ireland
Knowing how to find someone in Ireland is a tricky task. There are many obstacles in the way when it comes to accessing records and personal information for someone in Ireland. In most cases, you’ll need feet on the ground to physically access documents.
About the Author
My name is David Oates, I am the Head Researcher at Relative Connections, you can view my LinkedIn by clicking here. I am also the director of the adoption support agency which is regulated by Ofsted. I am a highly regarded and experienced family tracer and intermediary. I have spoken about finding long lost family on BBC Radio 5 and was part of the featured team on BBC1’s Family Finders TV series
Lets get starting finding someone in Ireland.
Irish records are not held like they are here in the UK, there is no national archive, and most are held locally by province so knowing where to go and look is a good start.
Many historical records in Ireland were burned as the Public Record Office was destroyed in a fire due to the start of the Irish Civil War in the June of 1922. Obviously, there was no means to digitise these records back then so sourcing some records for family history research can prove even more difficult in some cases.
How can I find someone in Ireland?
Some Irish records can still be found and searched from here in the UK on sites like Find My Past and Ancestry so its always worth checking if you know the name, age and area of the person you are looking for.
Find My Past boast the largest collection of Irish records online, so this is the place to start. They have millions of records across Northern and Southern Ireland and census data back to the mid-1800s.
Ancestry claims to hold over 35 million Irish records from births, deaths and marriages to parish records too.
These sites and record sets and be useful but we must stress (as their names suggest) they are mainly to help with historical research. Moving forward and identifying current contact data is another challenge and Irish records are notoriously difficult to access even before changes in legislation surrounding data protection.
We would suggest that third party help would most likely be required to actually locate someone in Ireland.
What are the main reasons people try to find someone in Ireland?
Recent events such as Brexit is one. We have seen an influx of new work and a need for finding someone in Ireland since such announcements. People are wanting to find the historical connection to their Irish roots so they can apply for Irish (or dual) citizenship to keep they place as an individual in the EU.
As well as this, we find that some adoption related searches also have strong Irish connections. It wasn’t uncommon for Irish mothers to come to the UK to give birth.
There is long history of migration between Ireland and the UK mainland. Many women finding themselves pregnant whilst unmarried would travel from Ireland to hide their pregnancy and arrange an adoption, mainly due to social stigmas.
Adoption in England and Wales was formalised in 1927 but there are no doubts adoptions took place prior to this too. However, we work on many cases where birth mothers travel from Ireland to the UK throughout the 1930s through to the 1970s and even some in the 1980s too.
Fathers. From people with no information who have taken DNA tests and found Irish routes in their genetic makeup which have led them to the path to uncover more about their paternal heritage and who their biological father may be to people knowing their fathers name and details about him but struggling to pinpoint his current whereabouts.
Can you help me find someone in Ireland?
Yes.
If you find you do need help to progress your search, then we offer a range of services and solutions to help you find someone in Ireland. We have amazing teams out in Southern and Northern Ireland so if you are hitting hurdles and need some help finding resolution then please don’t hesitate to ask.
You can book a no pressure call with one of our team here https://relativeconnections.co.uk/book-an-appointment once we know more about what you are trying to do or who you are hoping to find then we’d be more than happy to advise exactly what we can do to help you find answers. We’re also available for a direct call on 0113 282 5900.
We hope you have found this article on how to find someone Ireland useful.
Thank you for reading how to find someone in Ireland.