Irish BMDs Just Doubled in Cost

I am sincerely hoping you took advantage of my last post and were able to use the free day on findmypast.

At present it is possible to order birth, marriage and death records in Ireland from 3 sources. From 1845 to the present day you can obtain records for what is now the Republic of Ireland from the Irish GRO in Roscommon (www.groireland.ie). This also offers records for the north from 1845-1921. The beauty with this site is the fact that you can order photocopies for genealogical research for just four Euros each, if you know the details of when and where an event happened. You can also get records for the north from 1845 to the present day from the GRO for Northern Ireland in Belfast, but at a whopping £15 per certificate.

There is a third way to obtain records, if you wish to do so online, and that is through the Republic's Health Services Executive site at www.hse.ie/eng/services/find_a_service/bdm/certificates_ie. Coverage is partial however - all Ireland births from 1864-1921, and from the Republic from 1922 onwards; all Ireland marriages from just 1920-1921, and for the Republic from 1922 to the present day; and deaths from 1924 for the republic only.

Unfortunately, both the HSE and the GRO in Roscommon have just DOUBLED the costs of their official certs to 20 Euros each. In Sterling that is £16.94 each - even higher than Belfast's costs of £15, the highest in the UK. However, the GRO's 4 Euro charge (£3.39) for an uncertified and photocopied extract remains the same.

Is this just blatant profiteering to coincide with the launch of the Irish indexes for such records on FindmyPast? Who knows - but never has a photocopy looked so beautiful...

Thanks to Chris Paton for the above.