Documents for Irish Citizenship

What I thought would be fairly straightforward has not turned out so.
My Grandfather was born in Mullingar, Westmeath in 1888. I now have official copies of his Birth, Marriage and Death certificates - so far so good.

However, he was in Quetta, British India (Now Pakistan) when my Father was born 1921 and in 1937 a huge earthquake destroyed the records Office in Quetta. My Father to obtain his passport did however, get an official copy of his Baptism in Quetta dated 1921 which names his Parents who were Irish. We also have his marriage certificate and death certificate.

I also have my Birth and marriage certificates.

One would have thought that would be all ok but it seems an Irish Embassy spokesperson says we must have an original birth certificate for my Father despite there not one now available as destroyed but we do have a copy of his Baptism at St Mary's Church Quetta, August 1921.

Can anyone think why this is not enough and what else we should do. Many thanks Fiona

If you are asking why it is not acceptable for your FBR application documentation, the simple answer is because a civil certificate is specifically listed as a required document. And a baptismal record is not a civil birth certificate .

If your question is why they established this as a requirement for everyone, I could only guess. Maybe they find civil documents more trustworthy, more easily verifiable, less prone to forgery - or all of those things and more. You'll notice that in the case of marriage certificates, they specifically say that "Church certificates are NOT acceptable". So it seems they have a reason why they don't want church documents.

You might see if the civil authorities in Quetta will consider a late registration of his birth. Another poster (BrexitEscapee) had this done for his grandfather. You can read details of his post here.

But that was in Ireland. I have no idea how successful you might be trying to do this in Pakistan.

Otherwise, perhaps there is a solicitor in Ireland who knows how to handle such situations.