Historic Records of Charles J Haughey and Éamon de Valera Unveiled Online

Historic records relating to the birth of former Taoiseach Charles J Haughey, and the death of former President Éamon de Valera, and his wife Sinéad, are among a tranche of new civil registration documents available to view online.

The records now available on www.irishgenealogy.ie, include:

• Birth records – 1864 to 1925
• Marriage records – 1845 to 1950
• Death records – 1864 to 1975

Irishgenealogy.ie allows users to search a wide range of records for tracing ancestry and family history.

Every year an additional year of Birth, Marriage and Death entries is added to the website, which is free to use, and no subscription or registration is required.

Welcoming the release, Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Patrick O’Donovan TD, said:

Minister for Social Protection, Dara Calleary, TD, added:

“I am pleased to make a further year of records available to the Department of Culture, Communications, and Sport so that this rich source of family history information can be accessed online across the globe.

“Birth, death and marriage records are a vital part in following the paths of our Irish ancestors and I am delighted to support this ongoing collaborative project.”

Notes for Editors:

The records being launched are the Birth register entries for 1925, Marriage Register entries for 1950 and Death Register entries for 1975. These entries show important information that are often vital in helping people to find out about their ancestry.

For Births these include:

• Childs Forename/s
• Childs Surname
• Date of Birth
• Place of Birth
• Father's Name and Address
• Mother's Name and Maiden Name if Married
• Father's Occupation
• Signature of Informant (Person who registered your birth)
• Date of Registration of the Birth

For Marriages these include:

• Marriage location
• Date of Marriage
• Forename/s & Surnames of Bride and Groom
• Age at time of Marriage
• Condition (i.e. Bachelor, Spinster or Widowed)
• Occupation of Bride and Groom
• Bride and Grooms Father's Names and Addresses
• Occupations of Bride’s and Groom’s Fathers
• Signature of Bride and Groom
• Signature of Witnesses

For Deaths these include:

• Date and Place of Death
• Name and Surname of Deceased
• Male or Female
• Condition of deceased ((i.e. Bachelor, Spinster or Widowed)
• Age at last Birthday
• Rank, Profession or Occupation of Deceased
• Cause of Death and duration of illness
• Signature, qualification and residence of informant
• Date of registration

The years covered by the historic records of Births, Marriages and Deaths available on the www.irishgenealogy.ie website are:

Births: 1864 to 1925

Marriages: 1845* to 1950

Deaths: 1871** to 1975

* Civil Registration of Marriages in the Roman Catholic Church only commenced in 1864.

**The Civil Registration Service are currently working on updating the remaining records of Deaths dating back to 1864. These will be included in future updates to the records available on the website.

Births 1925:

Charles James Haughey (16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish politician who served as Taoiseach four times between 1979 and 1992, when he was leader of Fianna Fáil.

Born in Castlebar, County Mayo, he was the third of seven children born to Johnnie Haughey and Sarah McWilliams.

He attended University College Dublin, studying law and accounting.

In 1951, he married Maureen Lemass, they had four children.

First elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil TD in 1957 he was re-elected at every election until 1992, representing the constituencies of Dublin North – Central / Dublin Artane / Dublin North – East

Haughey led four governments while serving as Taoiseach: December 1979 to June 1981, March to December 1982, March 1987 to June 1989, and June 1989 to February 1992. He held numerous ministerial positions over his political career: Minister for the Gaeltacht from 1987 to 1989, Minister for Social Welfare and for Health from 1977 to 1979, Minister for Finance from 1966 to 1970, Minister for Agriculture from 1964 to 1965 and Minister for Justice from 1961 to 1964

Deaths 1975

Éamon de Valera (14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975)

He was born in New York on 14 October, 1882, and was brought to Ireland at the age of two and a half years. In 1910 he married Sinéad Ní Fhlannagáin.

A teacher and university lecturer, he joined the Irish Volunteers when they were founded in 1913. As a Commandant he took part in the 1916 Irish National Uprising. He was sentenced to death, the sentence being commuted to penal servitude for life. He was released on General Amnesty in 1917.

He was elected Sinn Féin M.P. for East Clare in 1917 and re-elected as parliamentary representative for Clare at subsequent General Elections until his election as President in 1959.

He founded the Fianna Fáil Party in 1926 and from 1932 – 37 he was President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State and Minister for External Affairs.

He was President of Council of the League of Nations at its 68th and Special Sessions, September and October 1932 and President of the Assembly of the League of Nations, 1938.

Following enactment by the people of the Constitution, Éamon de Valera became Taoiseach and Minister for External Affairs from 1937 – 48. He was Taoiseach again from 1951 – 54, 1957 – 59.

On 25 June, 1959 he was inaugurated as President of Ireland.

He died on 29 August 1975.

Sinéad de Valera (née Ní Fhlannagáin; 3 June 1878 – 7 January 1975) was an Irish author of a number of children's books in both Irish and English. She was married to Taoiseach and third president of Ireland, Éamon de Valera.

She was born Jane O'Flanagan in Balbriggan, County Dublin. Her father, Laurence, was a carpenter and was a native of Kildare who moved to Balbriggan and married a local girl, Margaret Byrne.

In her spare time, she taught Irish at the Leinster College of the Gaelic League in Parnell Square. One of her Irish students was Éamon de Valera, then a teacher of mathematics. On 8 January 1910, they were married. Together they had five sons, Vivion, Éamon, Brian, Rúaidhrí and Terence (Terry), and two daughters, Máirín and Emer

Sinéad de Valera wrote thirty-one books for children, in both English and Irish. Among her works were plays such as Cluichidhe na Gaedhilge (1935) and story collections such as The Emerald Ring and Other Irish Fairy Stories (1951), The Stolen Child and Other Stories (1961), The Four-leafed Shamrock (1964) and The Miser's Gold (1970).

She died on 7 January 1975, at the age of 96, the day before what would have been the de Valeras' sixty-fifth wedding anniversary. Éamon de Valera died just under eight months later, on 29 August 1975, aged 92. The couple are buried together, along with their son Brian, at Dublin's Glasnevin Cemetery.