PRONI Search Service

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Alongside free advice for general enquiries, PRONI offers a paid Search Service for those who need more in-depth assistance with their research. If you’re looking for extra help to uncover information or make sense of our records, this service can help you get started. 

 

Free advice and guidance

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While more complex search requests will incur a cost, we will answer general enquiries about PRONI records free of charge. Examples of these queries include:

  • Asking if we hold records of a particular school, church or landed estate PRONI.
  • Querying how particular archives are structured.
  • Advice on how to use sources like Will Calendars and the PRONI Name Search.
  • Requesting general information on PRONI services and our programme of talks, workshops and events.

Paid searches 

PRONI also offers a paid Search Service for more complex queries. These searches can help you to verify existing family knowledge, find the ‘missing link’ overlooked on previous research visits.

Please note that as part of this service, PRONI cannot:

  • offer a comprehensive genealogical service
  • do research - for example, PRONI will not interpret the content or relevance of documents to your particular interests
  • do ‘speculative’ searches - for example, PRONI cannot provide details of every individual with a particular surname that appears on a register/ record

If you wish for someone to carry out research on your behalf, we recommend contacting an independent commercial researcher.

 

Requesting a search 

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To request a search, you can contact us by:

Include as much information as possible in your request, including references to any relevant PRONI records or archives you have identified, as this can help to narrow the focus of our search. 

Any contact details you give will be processed in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. Further information can be found on the DfC Privacy Notice.

Process and charges

Once we have received your request, our staff will contact you to confirm:

  • What they are searching for
  • What records they plan to use
  • Any associated costs

The cost of the PRONI Search Service depends on the complexity of the query, and our staff will not conduct the search unless this has been agreed and paid. At this stage, you will be issued with an invoice that includes a link to our online payment system. 

Please be aware that the agreed cost for this service is based on the time taken to conduct the search and not the results. We cannot guarantee that the required information will be found and cannot offer refunds for unsuccessful searches. 

The search fee also includes a complimentary copy if a relevant record is identified. 

For more detailed information on this fee and PRONI's other charged services, see our Service Costs page.