Patrice, I'm not an expert on this--you could learn more by Googling the terms or checking an Irish genealogy book--but will take a quick stab at your questions. If someone was quite young at the time of the Tithes, he or she might still be listed as either an occupier in Griffith's, but in most cases it's probably a relative--son, younger brother, nephew, etc. Occupiers paid immediate lessors to live on land owned by the lessors (or someone else the lessor leased from). Occupiers had no legal right to the land and could be evicted at the lessor's pleasure, especially in hard times, but generally stayed on the same bit of land generation after generation (see revised valuation lists in the LDS catalog). In the land reforms of the early 20th century occupiers were finally enabled to buy the land their families had worked for generations. Diane