Getting a birth, marriage or death certificate in Ireland

It is a legal requirement in Ireland that a record is kept of each birth, marriage and death that occurs in the State. When a birth, death, marriage or adoption is recorded in Ireland, a certificate is issued to the people concerned (for example, the parents if it is a birth, the couple if it is a marriage and the next-of-kin if it is a death). This record is a very important legal document and should be kept in a safe place. For example, a birth certificate is required if you want to enrol your child in school or apply for an Irish passport. A death certificate is required if you are dealing with the deceased person's estate.

The General Register Office is where records relating to births, stillbirths, deaths, marriages, civil partnerships and adoptions in Ireland are kept.

The General Register Office is responsible for the overall administration of the civil registration service in Ireland. The HSE is responsible for the day-to-day delivery of the service through local Civil Registration Service offices.

Birth, marriage, adoption, civil partnership and death certificates are public records, meaning anybody can access or apply for them.

There are different types of certificates available from the General Register Office.

From 2019, public documents such as birth, marriage, adoption, civil partnership or death certificates issued in an EU country must be accepted as authentic by the authorities in another EU member state without the need to carry an ‘Apostille’ or authenticity stamp.

If your certificate is required for use outside the EU, you can apply to the General Register Office in Roscommon to have a new certificate issued with an authentication stamp applied at the same time. Alternatively, if you already have your certificate you can send it to the General Register Office to have an authentication applied.

There is no charge for registering a birth (including re-registering a birth to include a parent's details), registering a marriage or registering a death.

There are fees for birth, adoption, marriage, civil partnership and death certificates, or photocopies of these certificates.

The fees charged for issuing a certificate are:

• €20 for a full standard certificate
• €5 for an uncertified photocopy of an entry in the Register
• €10 to have a certificate authenticated (only available from the General Register Office)
• €20 for a certified copy of an entry in the Adopted Children Register (can be used for legal and administrative purposes). This is only available from the General Register Office.
• €30 for a new certificate with an authentication stamp
• €0 (no fee) for a Multilingual Standard Form (MSF)

You can apply for a birth, marriage, adoption, civil partnership and death certificate online. Only full standard certificates are available online. You can also apply for full standard certificates or copies of these certificates by post, email or in person at a Civil Registration Service office or the General Register Office – see ‘Where to apply’ below.

Applying for a certificate online

You can apply for a certificate online, including domestic adoptions and stillbirths that have been registered.

Applying for a certificate or copy in person or by post

You can apply for a certificate or copy of a certificate in person in any Civil Registration Service. Some Civil Registration Services have a walk-in service. You need to phone and book an appointment for others.

To apply for a certificate or copy of a certificate by post, fill in the application form (pdf). Post the completed form to your local Civil Registration Service or the General Register Office – see ‘Where to apply’ below.

Applying for a certificate or copy by phone

You can order and pay for a certificate by phone in most Civil Registration Offices around Ireland (except Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow). Your phone order should be processed within 5 working days.

Applying for a certificate or copy by email

To apply for a certificate or copy by email, download the email application form (pdf). Fill in the form electronically and email it to GROonlinepayments@welfare.ie.

When the General Register Office receives your email application, you will get an email back with a secure payment link allowing you to pay the fee due using a debit or credit card. If the certificate you want cannot be located, your card will be refunded the full fee.

Find more information about how to apply for certificates on gov.ie.

You can find the contact details for Civil Registration Services on the HSE website. Alternatively, you can order certificates from the General Register Office.

The General Register Office has a family research facility in the GRO Research Room at Werburgh Street, Dublin 2, where you can search the indexes to the registers and buy photocopies of records.

If you want to order certified copies of entries, you can do so from the General Register Office in Roscommon (see contact details below).

The Research Room has a walk-in service on Tuesdays only, from 10am - 12.30pm, and from 2pm – 4.30pm. An email service is available 5 days a week at GROResearchRoom@welfare.ie. Note: There is no walk-in service available at the Research Rooms from the 25 June 2024 due to urgent repair works on the building. The walk in service will re-open on Tuesday, 27 August 2024. The Research Rooms continues to offer a full email service.

You can search the indexes to the registers including:

• Births registered on the island of Ireland between 1 January 1864 and 31 December 1921 inclusive, and in the Republic of Ireland from 1922 onwards
• Deaths registered on the island of Ireland between 1 January 1864 and 31 December 1921 inclusive and in the Republic of Ireland from 1922 onwards
• Marriages registered on the island of Ireland between 1 April 1845 and 31 December 1921 inclusive and in the Republic of Ireland from 1922 onwards
• Domestic adoptions registered in Ireland from 10 July 1953 onwards

You can also find historic church and civil records of Irish births, marriages and deaths on irishgenealogy.ie.

• Births 1864-1923
• Marriages 1845*-1948
• Deaths 1871-1973

*Civil registration of marriages in the Roman Catholic church only began in 1864.