Records for many RC parishes have been filmed by the LDS and can be rented through your nearest Family History Center. Filmed records for virtually all RC parishes are held by the National Library of Ireland in Dublin, as well as in county heritage centers, but you have to pay someone to search them for you (or go to Dublin yourself). To see who has copies your ancestors' parishes' records, go to irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse, click on RC parish maps, then click on the counties of interest and the individual parishes. In each case you'll get a table that shows where records are. (Note that RC parishes are not the same as civil parishes.) Of course, in many cases parish priests have access to old records, but most don't have time to rummage through them in response to individual inquiries, which is why they've allowed them to be filmed. Diane