Tuesday 1 November 2016

National Archives of Ireland's free Genealogy Service returns to full time operation

The National Archives of Ireland (NAI) has announced that its free Genealogy Service will today return to a full time operation (9:30am to 5pm with a half hour for lunch), Monday to Friday.

This is terrific news. In response to the financial crisis, the service was cut back to just 3.5 hours a day, so it is excellent to see it being fully restored. It will continue to operate from a dedicated room off the main Reading Room at the NAI premises at Bishop Street, Dublin 8.

Members of Accredited Genealogists Ireland (AGI) will be providing the service, as they have done for most of the last decade or so, delivering free advice to those researching their own Irish family history, whether using sources online or in the national record repositories in Dublin and Belfast, or on a local level. Every day, one of AGI's panel of professional genealogists will be on hand to help and assist with genealogical enquiries, from the most basic to the most complex.

There is no appointment system. Researchers simply turn up and wait their turn.

To avail of this free service, visiting family historians must have an NAI Reader’s Ticket. The ticket is free and you need to attend in person with two forms of identification: photo ID and a recent utility bill). There are more details about the Reader's Ticket procedure on the NAI website.