The expert genealogists and researchers at the Irish Family History Centre bring decades of combined experience in tracing Irish family histories. Working with records, archives and sources from across Ireland and beyond, the team supports visitors from around the world in uncovering their roots and making meaningful connections with their past.
Fiona Fitzsimons
Fiona Fitzsimons is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, a historical expert and entrepreneur. Since 1996 she’s developed our historical research department, setting high standards for all our research work.
From 2005 to the present, Fiona and her team have provided research and historical consultancy for television and film production, including WDYTYA, Faces of America, Finding our Roots, Ancestors in the Famine, etc.
From 2010 Fiona has carved out a role as a writer and educator in Irish Public History. She has taught at the Innovation Academy, Trinity College Dublin; Ancestral Connections Summer School in N.U.I. Cork (2013, 2014, 2015, forthcoming 2016); the British Institute, SLC (2015).
Since 2012 Fiona hosts the popular Summer Talks series in the National Library of Ireland. In 2014 she established the monthly Expert Workshop @NLIreland series.
Fiona writes a column, Kindred Lines, in History Ireland; is a feature writer for online magazine Irish Lives Remembered; and contributes regularly to specialist journals, and popular magazines and newspapers.
Dave Butler
Being the son of a Superintendent Registrar for Births Deaths & Marriages, I was exposed to Genealogy from a very young age. Many Saturdays during my early teens were spent browsing through the original leather bound Church Registers in the Archives at Canterbury Cathedral helping my father trace our Family Tree.
In adult life, genealogy became a hobby that I’d look at every few years to try and add to the work we’d done all those years before, especially when new census records became available. Having worked as a Senior Data Analyst in the Banking industry in Ireland for 20 years I was made aware that my role was being made redundant, so started my pursuit of a full time role in Genealogy by obtaining two Diplomas in “Irish Family History Research”, resulting in me successfully becoming an expert Genealogist at the Irish Family History Centre in February 2024.
Gili Diamant
Gili Diamant is a researcher at the Irish Family History Centre, where she combines her passion for historical research with a lifelong interest in Ireland’s rich cultural heritage.
With more than 15 years of experience researching Irish history, folklore, languages, and family history, she brings a multidisciplinary approach to genealogical research. Gili has authored peer-reviewed publications on Irish-English grammar and the storytelling traditions of County Clare, and her diverse research background encompasses linguistics, Irish local history, Jewish genealogy, Holocaust studies, and oral history documentation.
Drawing on both academic and genealogical expertise, Gili helps clients uncover and contextualize their family stories through careful historical investigation and analysis. She is particularly passionate about connecting individuals with their heritage and bringing the past to life through the records, narratives, and personal histories that shape every family tree.
Helen Moss
Helen did her BSc in Human Communication, then working for the journalist and author, Bruce Arnold, before joining Eneclann. She was research assistant on Bruce Arnold’s biography of Jack Yeats, and on various publications about the life and work of Jonathan Swift. Helen is Senior Researcher for the company. She spends most of her time doing research in the archives in Dublin, including the National Archives of Ireland, the National Library of Ireland, General Register Office and the Registry of Deeds.
Helen is particularly interested in 18th century Irish history and the history of the Quakers in Ireland.
Publications
Helen Moss and Clive Allen, The Allens Family and Friends: ten generations of Quaker ancestry (2007).
Declan Brady
Declan is a professional historian, genealogist and educator who specializes in the social history and local government of eighteenth to twentieth century Ireland, including the Irish diaspora who emigrated during this period. His wide research experience facilitates the use of historical sources for genealogical research, especially of emigrants to the United States, Canada, Britain and Australia.
Previously part of the Genealogy Advisory Service at the National Library of Ireland, Declan also works with the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, and with various County Council commemorations programmes.
He is also a history tutor at Maynooth University and lectures in Local History and Genealogy with the City of Dublin Educational and Training Board and with various County Council Library services.
Declan is an unusual genealogical species in that he can trace his family back through six generations living in Dublin City.
Emilie Wood
Hi, I’m Emilie. I am a researcher here at the IFHC.
After graduating, I spent a year teaching before honing my genealogy skills working at Ancestry.com. I find it incredibly rewarding to use my love of history and to share this affinity with customers as we discover their family history.
Laura Price
A native of Offaly, with roots in Roscommon and Louth, I have always been interested in my family’s history, although my first career was in IT. I have many years experience in researching family and local history, and qualifications in Genealogy from UCD and City Colleges.
In 2019 I co-authored a book with Brendan Ryan, Shannonbridge – A History of Raghra and, in 2024, contributed a chapter to The changing face of Offaly towns in the early 1900s. I am the Director of Special Collections in the Genealogical Society of Ireland and the editor of the Society’s Annual Journal. I am particularly interested in land records and the Registry of Deeds, which can contain hidden gems of family and local history.
I love hearing people’s stories of their families, and helping them look for their origins. One of my favourite things about my job is when I can connect someone with their ancestor’s ‘place’. It may be the church they attended, the ruins of a house, the graveyard where the family is buried…but having that connection means so much to people.
