1 November 2026
By Bryan McCarthy
bryan@TheCork.ie
It is a legal requirement that every death that takes place in Ireland must be recorded and registered. Records of deaths in Ireland are held in the General Register Office, which holds records relating to Births, Marriages and Deaths in Ireland.
What do you need to register the death?
To register a death, you must bring a Death Notification Form stating the cause of death to any Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths.
You get the Death Notification Form from the doctor who attended the person who died. You must complete Part 2 of the Death Notification Form and take it to the registry office. You will need to bring photo ID with you. The registration is free.
You should register the death within 3 months of the date the person died. However, you have up to 12 months to register the death. If you need to register a death more than 12 months after the person died, you will need to contact the General Register Office.
What if the cause of death is not known?
A doctor cannot give you the Death Notification Form if they do not know the cause of death, or if they didn’t see the deceased person in the one month before the death occurred. In this case, they must inform a coroner who may decide a post-mortem is necessary.
If the person died as the result of an accident, or in violent or unexplained circumstances, the coroner must be informed.
There may be a delay in registering a death where a post-mortem is carried out. The death is automatically registered where an inquest or post-mortem is held at the request of the coroner. The coroner issues a certificate to the Registrar containing all the details to be registered.
While you are waiting for an inquest or post-mortem to be carried out, you can get an Interim Certificate of the Fact of Death from the Coroner Service. You can use this to inform institutions like banks, insurance companies and the Department of Social Protection that the death has occurred.
How do I get the death certificate?
You can get copies of the death certificate from the registration office when you are registering the death. To get a copy of a death certificate at a later stage, you can go directly to any civil registration office. You do not have to order a death certificate from a service in the area the death took place.
You can also apply for a death certificate:
- Online
- In person at a registry office
- By emailing a completed form to GROonlinepayments@welfare.ie
- By phone
Civil registration offices have different ways of handling requests for certificates. You can find details about your nearest civil registration office on the HSE website or from you local Citizens Information Centre.
Are there death certificate fees?
There is no charge for registering a death. But you may have to pay for a copy of the death certificate. A full standard certificate costs €20. Contact your local CIC for more details of the fees charged.
You do not need to apply for a copy of a death certificate for social welfare purposes, as the Department of Social Protection will have access to this information once the death has been registered.
South Munster Citizens Information
Further information on this and other topics is available from Cork City Centre CIC in Cornmarket Street, open to the public on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9.45am to 12.30pm and Wednesdays from 2pm to 4pm, Tel 0818 07 6950 (Lines open Mon-Fri 10am-4.30pm). Blackpool CIC is also open to the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 4pm, Tel 0818 07 6890 while Hollyhill CIC is open Mondays and Fridays from 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 4pm, Tel: 0818 07 6850.
Information is also available from the Citizens Information Phone Service Tel: 0818 07 4000 (9am – 8pm, Mon – Fri) or online at www.citizensinformation.ie