I found the instructions concerning marriage certificates to be a little vague but my understanding is that they are required where surnames have changed in the path back to the qualifying relative.
In my case, eligibility derives from my maternal grandparents. Having chosen my grandfather, I only submitted my mother's marriage certificate, thus establishing the link between my surname, her married & maiden names and her father's surname. If on the other hand I had chosen my grandmother, I would have needed to supply her marriage certificate as well, to establish the link between her maiden & married surnames and my mother's maiden name (derived from my grandfather). Essentially, the path starts from the surname on the birth certificate of the qualifying relative and ends with your surname.
Concerning submission of additional documents, I believe the correct and safest approach is to wait for a request from DFA. There shouldn't be much of a delay, apart from the turnaround time of the new documents. In any case, a covering letter with your application number (also on the outside of the envelope) would be wise.
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You didn't include your grandparents marriage certificate? I would think they would want that even if name did not change. My grandfather's name is Michael Kelly and there are lots of Michael Kelly's. If I submitted any old Michael Kelly birth certificate how would they know it's the correct one.There are 101 other Michael Kelly's born in just the same year as him in Ireland. His marriage certificate contains HIS parents names. That's why they want his marriage certifcate too. It matches his parents names with the birth certificate.
jgclancy
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I did not, although I can obtain it easily enough if they subsequently ask. Although both my maternal grandparents were Irish born I deliberately chose to apply for FBR through my grandfather rather than my grandmother precisely to avoid the extra time and cost of obtaining additional marriage certificates (to complicate things, my grandmother was widowed before marrying my grandfather).
As I said, the DFA wording around marriage certificates is a bit vague in my opinion but I think it's to establish familial links where surnames have changed. The following text from the DFA website seems to imply that birth certificate with parent details will be used to help establish basic identity whilst marriage certificate covers surname changes. Note the phrase "OR other change of name document". If I'm right then since my grandfather's name did not change through marriage, no need for the certificate.
"Original civil birth certificate of Irish born grandparent (showing parental details). Original civil marriage certificate of Irish born grandparent (if applicable) OR other change of name document."
Also, if your logic is correct what would happen in the case that my grandfather never married my grandmother but still appeared on my mother's birth certificate? A far stronger confirmation of my grandfather's identity, surely, is what the DFA do ask for which is birth certificate and current ID (or, sadly in the case of my grandfather, death certificate), where name, place of birth and date of birth correlate.
Anyway, I'll find out in a year or two if the DFA come knocking for my grandparents' marriage certificate!
