What's in the CIÉ Group Archives
The CIÉ Group Archives holds records relating to transport in Ireland from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century. See below for the different types of records we hold.
CIÉ Group corporate records
We hold the board and committee minutes of CIÉ from 1945 until its splitting into the CIÉ Holding Company and the Operating Companies in 1987. Thereafter we hold the board and committee minutes of the CIÉ Holding Company until the mid-1990s. We also hold a full set of CIÉ annual reports from 1945 onward, CIÉ publications such as Nuacht CIÉ and The Link, company secretary files and records relating to CIÉ staff.
Records of Ireland's historical railway companies
We hold the corporate records of sixty-eight historic railway companies, most of which came to be subsumed into the Great Southern Railways Company in 1924 and subsequently CIÉ in 1945. These include the records of the first railway company in Ireland, the Dublin and Kingstown, industry giants such as the Great Southern and Western, the Waterford and Limerick and the Great Northern (Ireland), and a range of small and medium-sized companies throughout Ireland, from the Cork and Bandon to the Finn Valley, the Dublin and South Eastern to the Ulster Railway Company, and from the West Clare to the Cavan and Leitrim.
Records of other transport companies in Ireland
We hold corporate records relating to Dublin tramways, canals and river navigation, and road transport companies from the early nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries.
Genealogical records
We hold CIÉ personnel records from the mid-twentieth century onwards, as well as some employment records from predecessor companies. We also hold shareholders' records showing who owned the historic railway companies, land books showing who sold the land the railways were built on, and rentals showing who rented houses and land off the railway companies. Our Names database holds almost 7,000 names and short biographies of persons who worked for or otherwise engaged with transport companies in Ireland from the 1850s-1950s. However, most of our genealogical records are not yet indexed and are subject to data protection restrictions, so if you cannot find who you are looking for in the Names database contact us to find out what is available and to make an appointment to visit the archives.
Engineering records
While most civil and mechanical engineering drawings currently remain with the Operating Companies and are unavailable to researchers, CIÉ Group Archives does hold some engineer's report and letter books, specifications, tenders and contracts. Additionally, we hold works and locomotive committee minute for most of the railway companies that give details on civil and mechanical engineering projects and operations. The Irish Railway Record Society holds a large collection of civil and mechanical engineering records from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and details of their archive are at the link below.
Property records
The CIÉ Group Archives is the custodian of CIÉ's huge collection of property records that relate to all properties owned by the CIÉ Group across Ireland. Access to these property records is manage by CIÉ Group Property, who should be contacted for any property-related queries.