Irish Family History Society

Connecting People With Their Irish Roots

Latest News

Read All News

Next Event

Jun
28
Sat
2025
09:00 IFHS Meet-Up: AUS/NZ
IFHS Meet-Up: AUS/NZ
Jun 28 @ 09:00 – 10:00
The Meet-Ups are open to members only and are informal chat sessions where we can introduce ourselves to people based in the same region / time zone and discuss all things family history. Members only.[...]

Our Latest Publication

 

IFHS Journal 2024

Members' Login

Home Page

CONNECTING PEOPLE WITH THEIR IRISH ROOTS

Flavours of Fingal 2025

Visit the IFHS stand at this 2 day county show in north county Dublin. July 5th and 6th.
Click Here

Why not join us?

The Irish Family History Society (IFHS) is a voluntary non-profit making organisation, established in 1984. We are based in Ireland, but open to anyone who is interested in looking to trace their Irish roots, wherever in the world they are based.

We organise a range of activities across the year, so our members feel part of a community, including:

  • Talks delivered over Zoom by local experts
  • Outings to archives and places of interest to family historians
  • Meet-Ups – community-based informal Zoom sessions to chat about our research and ask questions of society experts
  • Conference Day in November

We deliver unique content via email in the form of periodic News Sheets and publish the Irish Family History Journal annually. 

The News and Events sections of this site are maintained daily.  

The Members’ Area of the site includes additional content such as lecture handouts, event reports, newsletters from associated societies, along with training courses and documentation to help you progress your own Irish family history research. 

For only €25 you can become a member and get access to our Lectures, Outings, Lecture Handouts, News Sheets,  Journals archive as well as useful information and links. And you can avail of a 25% discount on an Irish Newspaper Archives subscription, normally €149 per year.

Connect with your irish roots

Become a Member
€ 25 Per Year
  • Access to Members' Area
  • 25% Discount to the Irish Newspaper Archives
Join Us
Already a Member? Click Here to Renew

Some Recent Activities

In 2024, the Irish Family History Society celebrated its 40th Anniversary. On Sunday 23rd November we held our anniversary conference in the Croke Park Hotel in Dublin. Joan Sharkey, MAGI and longtime society member, provided the keynote speech detailing her own genealogical journey alongside that of the society’s. 

Chair (2024) of IFHS - Lucinda Mac Mahon
My Genealogy Journey with the IFHS – Joan Sharkey
Available online records for Irish Family History research – Kieran Jordan
CGetting the most from DNA testing – Dr. Paddy Waldron
Cracking brick walls - Dr. Paddy Waldron, Michael Foley (pictured) & Roy Atkinson
Cracking brick walls - Dr. Paddy Waldron, Michael Foley & Roy Atkinson (pictured)

A number of people in our audience also spoke about their experience in the society:

Paul O'Donnell
Frank Pelly
Chris Walker
Ray Keogh

It is with sadness that we learned of the passing of long standing member Frank Pelly, pictured above speaking at our conference last year. Frank was a draughtsman with Commissioners of Irish Lights and later became the Consultant Curator of their Bailey lighthouse museum near Dublin. Frank was committed to his work in genealogy and local history and his historical knowledge and efforts to catalogue the Irish Lights archive was significant.

Our thoughts are with Frank’s family and friends.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.