Certificate of Irish Heritage

[O'Callaghan]

You don't need to document every step in your family tree to get a certificate. You just have to list a line of descent, i.e. names and dates and places of birth, upload an ID, and upload one document showing a person in that line was either born in Ireland or an Irish citizen, for which they will accept foreign documents.

So for example, I can copy from my family tree the line back to to my Great Great Grandfather (GGGF), and upload images of my US driver's licence and of any year's British census record showing my GGGF was born in Ireland, albeit showing he was resident in London. They will check all the steps inbetween.

BTW, my GGGM also had two Irish born parents, so that makes me 1/8 Irish, and not just 1/16, i.e. my Great Grandfather was 100% Irish. Moreover, my Grandfather was an Irish citizen, because his GF was born in Ireland, but my mother's birth was never registered with the Irish Embassy. I suppose in theory she could still register her own birth, although she's in her 80s and her parents have long since passed on, but it's only because that wasn't done before I was born that I can only get a certificate and not a passport!

Haven't applied yet, but definitely planning to.