21st - 23rd October 2016
Serpentine Hall, RDS Dublin, Ireland
50% off. Book now
​Back to Our Past Returns For The Seventh Year and are offering 50% discount if you book now.
11.30 - 6pm Friday 11.00 - 6pm Saturday 11.00 - 6pm Sunday
For further details: 00 353 1 496 9028

Ireland, Poverty Relief Loans 1821-1874

​"Explore this amazing collection of records from Ireland’s Western Seaboard from 1821-1874. The records come from The National Archives at Kew and relate to the Irish Reproductive Loan Fund. This is the first time these records have been made available in full online. The majority of the records cover the years 1824-1846 and provide unique information about your ancestors from before and during the Irish Famine. They are an excellent resource for the Irish family historian, because they record the names of individuals, who are often missing from official government records. Many of the records are loan application forms, which include the name of the borrower and two names of guarantors, who were often close family members or neighbours. Other details recorded include occupation, notes of health, family circumstances and whether the borrower emigrated."
Counties covered - Clare, Cork, Galway, Kerry, Leitrim, Limerick, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary & Wexford.  There is also a listing for Lancashire and London, not quite sure how that fits in yet!


They have also updated some Irish Newspapers, there are mainly for Northern Ireland.
"Below is a list of the 4 newest newspapers to join the collection and the years they cover as of 18 May 2016:
Belfast Weekly News - 1897 - 1898, 1904 - 1914
Dundalk Examiner and Louth Advertiser - 1884, 1893, 1902 - 1915
National Teacher, and Irish Educational Journal - 1890 - 1893, 1895 - 1896
Weekly Gazette, Incumbered Estates Record & National Advertiser -1854 - 1855"

New 1 day (24 hours) Subscription now available

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You can upgrade your 1 day (24 hours) subscription to any of our other subscription options when the one day subscription ends. If you decide to upgrade to a 1, 6 or 12 month subscription within 30 days of purchase, the price you paid for your 1 day subscription will be deducted from the cost of your new subscription.
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rootsireland.ie

​Opening Hours on Thursday, 26th May and Friday, 27th MayThe National Library of Ireland wishes to notify all users of our opening hours on Thursday, 26th May and Friday, 27th May 2016. 
Early Closure on Thursday, 26th May
On Thursday, 26th May the National Library will close at 3.45pm to facilitate a staff development meeting.
Delayed Opening on Friday, 27th May
On Friday, 27th May the National Library will be closed until 2.00pm in order to facilitate staff training. 
We would like to apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Representative Church Body Library
FRIDAY 13th May: The Library will remain closed on the morning of Friday 13th May to facilitate staff attendance at the General Synod. Open as normal from 2pm–5pm. 
The main functions of the Library are:

• to serve the needs of those in training for ministry in the Church of Ireland
• to assist in the continuing Christian education of clergy and laity
• to act as a reference library for those seeking information about the Church of Ireland
• to provide a repository in which the archives and manuscripts of the Church can be stored, arranged and made available to researchers in a systematic fashion.

The Library does not provide a genealogical research service.  Specific details can be checked for a fee but general genealogical research cannot be undertaken by the Library staff.
Researchers are welcome to undertake their own research in the Library during the normal opening hours.
Researchers who cannot undertake their own research can find a list of professional researchers at www.apgi.ie.

Epic Ireland - John Grenham – Irish Roots Blog


​On Saturday I loaded up on all the scepticism I could muster and headed down for a sneak preview of the Epic Ireland visitor attraction in the CHQ building on Dublin’s Custom House Quay. (Full disclosure: the reason for the invite is that the Family History Centre attached to Epic has licensed some of the software from my site)
Custom-built “visitor attractions” are not generally high on my wish-list: being told what to see, even in velvety PR-speak, gets my hackles up. And after all the fruitless ballyhoo a few years back over a National Diaspora Centre, I was afraid this private-sector version might go for the paddywhackiest of paddywhackery. So I entered the CHQ vaults with a clenched heart and some trepidation.
And two hours later emerged with my heart melted, a lump in my throat and my eyes out on stalks. The place is simply extraordinary. First, and most important, it is honest. The reasons for leaving and the lives left behind, the individual stories, the huge chronological and geographic span of migration from Ireland, are all
presented straight.

The barrel-vaults in the basement go on and onBut the wonderful use of touch-screens, hi-definition projectors, motion-sensors and especially of the barrel-vaults of the building itself make it possible for a visitor to skim or go deep, to linger over the role of the Irish in Bordeaux wine-making or the battle of Fredericksburg, to whip through Riverdance or be hypnotised by the spectacular animations illustrating the history of Irish science.
In the end, it was one of the most moving museum experiences I’ve ever had. I suspect anyone with Irish blood will find it just as emotional.
Quibbles? Of course: There’s not enough about the awkward Other Irish, Northern Presbyterians, responsible for the winning of the American War of Independence, a fact worth bigging up. I found the passport to be stamped as you go from section to section just a tad on the hokey side. The sheer scale can be a bit overwhelming. And there is some mission creep – it covers aspects of contemporary Ireland with only the most tenuous links to the Diaspora.

The passport at least gives a sense of the sheer scale of it all – each of these areas could take half-an-hour or more to explore fullyBut, all in all, it is breathtaking.
Epic Ireland opens to the public on Saturday next, May 7th. I’ve been to the current top attraction in Dublin, the Guinness Storehouse, and Epic is much better. If there’s any justice, it will be a runaway success. And so will the Family History Centre.