People trying to trace their Irish roots can now search a massive online database for free. Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism Minister Martin Cullen has launched the website irishgenealogy.ie — which is packed with family tree history. The net archive holds around 1.3 million birth, death and marriage records. Most of the church documents are compiled from certificates issued in Dublin and County Kerry. But there are already plans to expand the information available — with records from County Carlow to be added next month. It is expected documents from Cork will be accessible on the site next year. The web page even allows foreign users to easily arrange trips to Ireland to visit the homes of their forefathers.

Source: The Sun, November 27, 2009