Monday 9 September 2013

IrishGenealogy.ie and linked sites are down

If you had been planning to work on your family history this past weekend, you're probably already aware that the State-run irishgenealogy.ie website, which provides access to most of the major free Irish genealogy databases, is not currently providing that access. Searches are returning 504 Error messages, which is tech-speak for 'the computer says no'.

Judging by some posts I've read on forums, the problem started late on Friday or early Saturday, and has continued. Most of the databases linked to the site are affected, including the Irish census, tithes, wills and church records (they're all held on the same server).

I've spoken to the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht this morning and they tell me that the tech team is working to identify the problem and hopes to restore normal operations as soon as possible. Until the fault has been diagnosed, however, they can't give any indication of timing.

(Databases that are not held on the same server ie militaryarchives.ie, Ellis Island records and Griffiths Valuation are searchable as normal.)

UPDATE: The National Archives of Ireland's website has caught the bug, too. The whole site is now unavailable.

LATEST UPDATE: 7pm. IrishGenealogy.ie and National Archives of Ireland's website and search facilities are working again. (Don't crash it, now!!)