Thousands of records detailing Irish births, marriages and deaths have been made available to the public on the family history website irishgenealogy.ie.

The new records date from the second half of the 19th century into the first half of the 20th century.

It is completely free to use and offers a great resource for anybody who is interested in researching their family tree.

Fine Gael TD and Cabinet Minister for Culture, Heritage & Gaeltacht Josepha Madigan is an ambassador for the site and tweeted the news.

She posted the following tweet.

Delighted to announce new register records are now available to the public on the https://t.co/YldCtTayUO website!?

➡️Birth records–1864 – 1919
➡️Marriage records–1845 -1944
➡️Death records–1878 – 1969

A rich tapestry of Irish history ? #Genealogy #History @welfare_ie pic.twitter.com/mUTavlbL3Y

— ⚖️Josepha Madigan (@josephamadigan) January 8, 2020

Millions of people around the world have Irish heritage and plenty have taken steps to research their family background.

In the years that followed the Great Hunger more than a million people were forced to leave Ireland to begin new lives around the world.

Many of them thrived in places like America, Canada, Australia and the UK and their families have kept close their Irish heritage.

The newly released records detail the births, marriages and deaths of thousands of Irish people during this period.

They are a crucial source of information when trying to piece together your family tree.

Also, the more you know about your ancestors the better you can understand the struggles they faced when leaving their loved ones to start their new lives abroad.

Every Irish person has about 14,000 cousins (yes, really)

Thousands of historical Irish records available online for free

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