Release The Irish Land Registry Files

In the battle between Free State soldiers and Republicans at the Four Courts in Dublin during the Irish Civil War a considerable amount of records were lost including the census carried out before 1901. This means that Irish Genealogists and Historians have a big gap in the available records. This gap can in some way be bridged by the Land Registry files. These files show the activities of the Land Registry and show who was given land when the encumbered estates were broken up. This helps genealogists to trace families and historians to construct histories of parishes etc.

When the island was partitioned the portion of the files relating to the six north eastern counties were given to the Government of Northern Ireland. Who made them freely available through the Public Records Office Northern Ireland.

Unfortunately these documents are not freely available in the Republic of Ireland and are stored in a warehouse in Portlaoise.

This petition calls on the Irish Government to make these documents available free of charge to historians, genealogists and interested members of the public.

The petition also calls on the Government not to license the availability of the records to private profit making companies who will charge a fee for what is public property.

Please sign my petition.