A new website aims to make it easier for anyone researching their Irish ancestry.
Tracing our family origins is to become much easier with the Irish Roots website which aims to list all available records of births, deaths and marriages from previous centuries.
Just how much do we know about those who've come before us? What do we really know of our family tress?
The Irish Roots website will make available all Irish genealogical records from the period 1600 to 1900.
There's over eight and a half million records already on the website.
The website is the culmination of a quarter of century of work by historians. Genealogist Karel Kiely says that most of the information that is online is from church registers.
The website can be found at irish-roots.ie was officially launched in Dublin on board the Jeanie Johnston. Access is free but there is a charge of €5 for a detailed search.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 12 March 2008. The reporter is Barry Cummins.
