The General Register Office of Ireland reopened last week (on Monday 7 December) and has increased the cost of 'research' copies of entries in the birth, marriage and death civil registers. (Research copies are photocopies of entries in the civil registers, and contain all the genealogical information supplied on an official bmd certificate. They have no legal standing and are used only by researchers.)
Each research copy is now €5, up from €4. This new price will be charged for research copies whether supplied from the GRO at Roscommon HQ, local authority registration offices, or the GRO Search Room in Dublin.
The only other fee increase relates to the 5-consecutive-years search available only in the Search Room. This has risen from €2 to €5. The general search fee (all years, searchable on one day) remains €20. All payments must be made by card.
Under pandemic arrangements, drop-in access to the Werburgh Street Search Room is no longer allowed. All visits are on an appointment-only basis. There are two or three slots available each morning, with another two or three slots in the afternoon. The number of slots depends on staff availability. Appointments can be requested by emailing GROResearchRoom@welfare.ie.
That same email address can be used, under the current pandemic arrangements, to request 'research' copies of all Irish BMD events. This service is useful for those family historians whose research covers time-periods/events not presently available at IrishGenealogy.ie*, or for certificates relating to still-births, adoption, civil partnership etc. Full details here.
For those lucky enough to get an appointment, be aware that all visitors have to:
- wear masks at all times,
- wear gloves (GRO provide them) when handling Index Books, and
- socially distance at all times.
* Images of the following historic BMDs can be viewed and downloaded at www.irishgenealogy.ie, free of charge: Births 1864 - 1919; Marriages 1845 - 1944; Deaths 1870 - 1969.
h/t Claire Bradley, professional genealogist, via the online forum Boards.ie.