My family are from Ireland, where do I start?

My family are from Ireland, where do I start?

Irish genealogy is actually quite problematic because a lot of records were destroyed in the 1920s during the civil unrest and also a number of fires at the national institutions. You also have to think about which part of Ireland your family comes from. Anything before 1921 you'd need to go to Dublin where most of the records are kept. After 1921, the country split in two so you might need to go to the public record office of Northern Ireland, or the general register office of Northern Ireland in Belfast, or if you're part of Southern Ireland then again you need to go back to Dublin.