IGRS Release Michael Leader Parish Register Transcripts

On 4 July 2026, as the next step in the Irish Genealogical Research Society’s ambitious digitisation project, we are delighted to announce the publication online of the first 20 parishes of the Michael Leader Parish Register Transcripts. The date has been chosen to coincide with the
London event for the 90th anniversary.

The release comprises 1548 pages of transcripts, a little more than a fifth of the nearly 7000 pages. There are 24 datasets covering 21 different parishes. All but one parish are Church of Ireland. Nineteen parishes are in County Cork, and two parishes are not. Bandon Scots Church is included as a representative non-conformist congregation.

The collection is not just of interest to people with Irish ancestry. A number of the parishes recorded were near British Army garrisons. This is the case with Bandon, Kinsale, Fermoy and Ballingarry Co Limerick in this release, but Youghal, Brigown, Kilmahon, Cork St Nicholas, Cork
St Lukes and Shandon St Anns also have many British military entries because of proximity to a garrison.

This group of parishes and subsequent groups will be available to IGRS members on the IGRS website. They are searchable one parish at a time from a dropdown list. When a parish is chosen, the user will see a downloadable description of the parish listing what events and dates are included. Users will then be able to search a parish by surname.

See: Michael Leader Parish Register Transcripts