advice on fining Irish Grandparent birth certificate.

Hi folks. I am attempting to trace my Grandmother's birth certificate. I believe she was born in Co Meath, moved to England in here late teens and married sometime around 1922. She had 8 kids, my dad was born 1934 died 2012. There are only 2 surviving sons, both now well into there 70's and sadly a daughter who has Alzheimer's. I can't find the sons so am at a loss how to trace my Grandmother's background. She died in 1976, I believe, just before my teens. Grandfather died in 1941! She may even have been adopted but not sure. I have some very tenous links to extended family in Boston, US and Scicily (no seriously!) Any advice or direction would be gratefully received.

You can search birth records on the Irish Genealogy website. It is run by the Irish government, and searches are free.

If you are not sure where she was born, it's possible a search may yield a few people with the same name. In that case, t would be helpful if you know your great-grandparents names. Sometimes those names appear in the search results. If not, you may have to open the scanned image of the birth ledger (as long as one is available). Then you can check for your great grandparents names. Obviously, if your grandmother's name was Mary Murphy, and her parents were Patrick Duggan and Margaret O'Connell, you should see those names on the birth record. Otherwise, it likely is not the right person.

I also first checked the census records. I was not 100% sure of my great-parent's forenames. But I did know my great-grandmothers's maiden name. My grandfather had a lot of siblings, and I knew the names of several. I knew he was from Co. Clare. So when I found a census record for his family name, and a few of the children't names matched, I was certain I had the right one. That allowed me to verify my great-grandparent's forenames.