Terms & Conditions

We hate jargon as much as you do, so our Terms & Conditions are written in plain English. The findmypast Ireland website is owned and run by brightsolid online publishing (Ireland) Limited – we are an Irish limited company and you can find out more about us on the company information page.

These Terms & Conditions explain our conditions for you using the findmypast.ie website, (including any other related services such as Privacy Policy forms part of these Terms & Conditions, so please read that too. These Terms & Conditions, the Privacy Policy and any other document we refer to in these Terms make up the whole agreement between you and brightsolid online publishing (Ireland) Limited. Some services referred to in this document are not yet available, but should be shortly.

What you can use the service for: You can use the website for your own personal use e.g. to research your own family history. We are also happy for you to help out other people with their family history by telling them about records available on the website and how and where they can be found.

Professional and corporate use: If you’re a self-employed professional genealogist, you can use the site to carry out research for others, using either PayAsYouGo credits or a subscription. If you work for an organisation or company that carries out research using our records, you’ll need to use PayAsYouGo credits and must not use a subscription: alternatively contact us to find out about corporate access to the service.

Getting access to the records: You can search the historical records on the website for free, but to view most records or use some features of the website you will need to buy either protect your personal data and credit card information.

Subscriptions: Different subscriptions give you access to different sets of records – this is explained on the payments page.

Changing subscription packages: If you are a subscriber, you can change the package at any time in the 90 days before your current subscription is due to expire – we will send you an email to remind you.

Continuous membership: When you take out a subscription, it is on a continuous membership basis, meaning that your subscription will automatically renew unless you cancel it. You can cancel it in the ‘my account’ area. If you do not cancel the continuous membership within FIVE DAYS of the expiry date, we will automatically renew your subscription and will take the next payment two to three days before your current subscription ends. We will send you an email at least 10 days before your subscription ends, to remind you of the automatic renewal. This is to make sure we don’t cut off your access to findmypast. You can turn off continuous membership at any time from the “my account” area with no hassle . You must opt out of the continuous membership before the expiry date if you do not want your subscription to automatically renew, and we cannot provide refunds for a continuous membership subscription which has been renewed in this way.

Fair usage: We have a fair usage limit for subscribers but we deliberately set it very high (you can view 5000 records each calendar month if you’re a subscriber). If you get close to the limit, (which is very unlikely), we’ll send you an email to warn you. If you do manage to reach the limit, subscribers will need to wait for the next calendar month to start (when your monthly limit is automatically reset) and those on a Free Trial will need to buy a subscription to view more records.

Free Trial Membership You can sign up for a Free Trial which lets you view a selection of the records for a fixed period so you can try before you buy: this requires a credit card. We only allow one Free Trial per household and will stop you taking a Free Trial if we think you've already had one. No payment is taken from your card until your Free Trial comes to an end: you can cancel your Free Trial at any time from the 'my account' area on the website. When you get to the end of your Free Trial, if you have not cancelled by the day before the expiry date, you will automatically become a subscriber to the package your Free Trial was based on, and we will then take your first subscription payment. Fair usage limits apply. Please see the fair usage section of our Terms and Conditions for more details.

Cancellation and your right to a refund: If you buy a subscription or PayAsYouGo credits, you can contact us and cancel within seven days of receipt of our confirmation email and we will happily give you a full refund as long as you have not viewed any records. Sorry that we’re strict about this.

Monitoring content created by users: We do not monitor content published by our users and take no responsibility for things that you publish, so think before you post! If you see something on the site that you think is offensive, illegal or which isn’t in line with these Terms & Conditions, please let us know. We don’t guarantee that we will always remove it, but we will certainly look into it. We reserve the right to remove content that you create, at our discretion.

Changes to the website or records: We reserve the right to make changes to the website, including the records and services we offer, without notice; however, we would not be in business very long if we suddenly took things away that you’ve paid for without offering you a decent replacement. If you’re a subscriber, you’ll be glad to know that you will generally get a lot of new records added to your subscription at no extra cost during the period of your subscription (although this is entirely at our discretion). Sometimes, if we launch a major new collection, we might make a separate charge for it, but this is rare. We may also change prices, make special offers to groups or individuals, or change the number of PayAsYouGo credits charged to view a record from time to time.

Offering a decent service: We always try to make sure the website is fast, accurate and performs well: however, we can’t promise that it will always work as expected. If the website does break, we won’t be liable for any losses you might suffer.

Accuracy of records and other information provided: We also don’t make any promises or give warranties about the accuracy or completeness of the records or any other information on the website. We just give you access to it. We are not responsible for any content on anyone else’s website, even if we link to it. We do not promise anything to you in relation to the findmypast website, content and services and no promises are made by us to you except in these Terms and Conditions.

Things beyond our control: Sometimes things happen that disrupt your service, which we have no reasonable control over. Examples are fires, floods, strikes, workmen putting shovels through our internet connection cable and other “acts of God”. Obviously, as we can’t control or plan for these things, we can’t be liable for any losses that they cause you.

Customer support and complaints: We really believe in Customer Support and always aim to fix problems where we can: quickly, and in a friendly way. If you have a question, suggestion or complaint, please contact our Customer Support team first and we’ll do our best to sort it out.

VAT: VAT at the current Irish rate is included in the price. We only offer VAT receipts to non-EU customers on personal purchases over €150, with a €25 administration fee.

Library users: These Terms & Conditions also apply if you are using a library using credit on the website to access records on behalf of third parties.

When we might stop you using the website: Thankfully, we rarely have to stop people using the website. If you do anything which you are not allowed to do under these Terms & Conditions, regularly go over the fair usage limit, or we cannot take a payment for a subscription when it is due, we reserve the right to stop you using the website. If you use a personal subscription for professional purposes unless you’re a self-employed genealogist, we also reserve the right to stop your access. In all these cases you will have no right to a refund.

First legal bits - 1. Liability: The only warranties or promises we give are set out in this document. We can’t accept liability for any indirect or consequential losses, loss of data or any use of content you suffer from using the website, although we never limit liability for personal injury or death caused by our negligence or fraud. For any other loss you suffer that is caused by us, we limit the liability we have to you to the total money you spent on the website in the 12 calendar months before you make a claim against us. Your statutory rights are not affected.

More legal bits - 2. Assignment: These Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy are personal to you, and you are not allowed to transfer your rights under this agreement to anyone else.

Last legal bits - 3. Severance: The law is constantly changing, so if any part of these Terms & Conditions or Privacy Policy no longer applies or is no longer legally enforceable, then that part will be severed from the rest of the agreement: the rest will continue to apply.

The law: These Terms & Conditions are made under Irish law and any arguments about them (heaven forbid) will only be heard in Irish courts.

Changes to this agreement: Any changes we make to our rights under this agreement will be made in writing.

Contact Us: We hope that’s clear (and fair). If it isn’t or you have another question that isn’t covered, please contact us .

This document was last updated on August 24, 2012.