Records of one description or another have been kept in Ireland since the Middle Ages. Unfortunately, fire, carelessness and pilfering have caused the loss and destruction of many of these items.

Many records of the Court of Chancery were lost by fire in 1304. In the mid 1530s, records maintained in Dublin Castle were subject to so much pilfering that the records were moved to the secure Bermingham Tower. The Tower became the main repository of records, but unfortunately it was burnt down in 1758 causing the loss of many documents. Other records were lost when another fire, this time in the Customs House in 1711, destroyed books belonging to the Surveyor General.

In 1810, the creation of the Commission of Public Records, allowed for the collation and archiving of national records. A Public Record Office was opened in 1867 and from then until around 1921, the stock-taking of national records carried on apace.

Unfortunately, this building suffered devastating damage during the Civil War in 1922 and many records were destroyed. Since this tragedy, great efforts have been made to make good the loss and this insitiution is now known as the National Archives. It is hardly surprising that large gaps exist in Irish Records and it is extremely difficult and rare for a researcher to go further back than the early 17th Century.

Northern Ireland was established in 1921 and the Irish Free State in 1922. Many of the records concerning the six counties which make up Northern Ireland were moved there but some anomalies exist such as the fact that the Census Records covering the six counties for 1901 and 1911 are still covered by the 100 year rule north of the border but these census records, including the six counties, are freely available in the South.