RESEARCHING IRELAND -6 CERTIFICATES can be ordered by post for fees if the year and full index reference is known. If these details are not known and researchers require staff to carry out a search in the indexes for an event there is an increased fee for the certificate. Index-searches by Joyce House staff cannot cover more than five years and are usually the suggested year and the two preceding and two following years. Postal applications should include as many known facts as possible about an event. All applications for certificates must be prepaid and cheques or money orders made payable to 'The Registrar General'. Sterling and other currencies are not legal tender in the Republic of Ireland, but sterling cheques drawn on UK banks are acceptable as are USA dollar payments. International Reply Coupons (available from post offices) should be enclosed to cover return postage from Dublin, unless you live in the Republic of Ireland. From Belfast The indexes held by the Registrar General for Northern Ireland, at Oxford House in Belfast are also open for inspection by the general public. Oxford House is open on normal weekdays from 9.30 am to 4.00 pm, but is closed at weekends and on public holidays. Visitors should be aged 16 or over. Admission is by reservation (booking is advisable and necessary for 'Assisted Searches', see below) and on payment of different fees. For a modest fee per person a search, not exceeding five years, can be made in the indexes for one nominated event. A more expensive daily fee per person allows for searches not exceeding six hours in duration with access to all the indexes for all three events. This service includes four verifications from the registers with an option to others on payment of a further fee per verification. Finally there is a rather more costly hourly fee for an 'Assisted Search' by a member of the GRO staff. This service also includes verifications being re! ad out from the actual registers and it is advisable to book this latter service at least six months in advance, unless cancellations have occurred. Occasionally unbooked daily visitors can be accommodated for unassisted searches, but it is always advisable to book all research places in advance. Costs of certificates are additional to the fees paid for searches in the indexes. Oxford House can also handle pre-paid postal requests for certificates that can include a five-year search in the indexes, but they are more expensive than postal requests when the year and full reference from the indexes are known. Cheques, etc, should be made payable to 'The Registrar General' and crossed. Payments may also be made by certain credit cards. Self-addressed stamped envelopes or two International Reply coupons should be included with all postal requests for return postage. Certificates ordered on visits are usually processed in three working days and those by post within eight workings ! days of receipt. NB Cheaper printouts of certificates (as in Dublin) are not available in Belfast, only full certified copies. From Register Offices Copies of Irish certificates can also be bought for fees from superintendent registrars at local, or 'District', register offices in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. However researchers need to know the district where an event took place to approach the correct office. But beware; in Northern Ireland whilst register offices can supply historic copy marriage certificates, they can only supply copy birth and death certificates for events registered there within the LAST THREE YEARS. Postal applications must include the appropriate fee and a self-addressed stamped envelope from mainland Britain or two International Reply Coupons for return postage if from elsewhere. The Belfast Registry, City Hall, Belfast- http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/ should be able to supply details of specific register offices throughout Northern Ireland. Local register offices in Northern Ireland And in the Republic of Ireland although register offices can meet requests for historic birth and death certificates, they can only produce historic copy certificates for Catholic marriages. Postal applications from outside the Republic must include the appropriate fee and include two International Reply Coupons for return postage. A detailed listing of Superintendent Registrars' Offices in the Republic of Ireland appears in 'Appendix B' of. Civil Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages in Ireland: A Practical Approach, by Catherine Blumson (Ulster Historical Foundation). A listing of registrars offices or County Superintendent Registrars Offices in the Republic of Ireland is on the Internet at: http://www.groireland.ie/fees.htm =============================================================== ©Cara_Links Researching Co.Wicklow,Wexford. A friend is one who accepts your past, loves you as you are, and believes in your tomorrows