Because of the disadvantages suffered by the Catholic Church from the 16th to the 19th centuries, record-keeping was understandably difficult. Very few registers survive from before the latter half of the 18th century.

The earliest Catholic parish records in the country appear to be the fragments for Waterford and Galway cities, dating from the 1680s, and for Wexford town, dating from 1671. Generally speaking, early records tend to come from the more prosperous and anglicised areas, in particular the towns and cities of the eastern half of the island.

In the poorest and most densely populated rural parishes of the West and North, those that saw most emigration, the parish registers very often do not start until the mid- or late-19th century. However, the majority of Catholic registers begin in the first decades of the 19th century, and even in poor areas, if a local tradition of Gaelic scholarship survived, records were often kept from an earlier date.

Catholic registers consist mostly of baptismal and marriage records. The keeping of burial records was much less thorough than in the Church of Ireland, with fewer than half the parishes in the country having a register of burials before 1900. Even where they do exist, these records are generally intermittent and patchy.

For some reason, almost all Catholic burial registers are for the northern half of the island. Baptisms and marriages are recorded in either Latin or English, never in Irish. Generally, parishes in the more prosperous areas tended to use English, while in Irish-speaking parishes Latin was used. There is, however, no consistency.

The Latin presents very few problems, since only first names were translated, not surnames or place names. The English equivalents are almost always self-evident.

Baptisms Catholic baptismal registers almost invariably contain the following information:

In addition most registers also record the residence of the parents. A typical Latin entry in its full form would read:
Baptisavi Johannem, filium legitimum Michaeli Sheehan et Mariae Sullivan de Lisquill.
Sponsoribus, Danielus Quirk, Johanna Donoghue.

Much more often the entry is abbreviated to:

Bapt. Johannem, f.l. Michaeli Sheehan et Mariae Sullivan, Lisquill, Sp: Daniel Quirk, Johanna Donoghue.

Translated, this is simply: 'I baptised John, legitimate son of Michael Sheehan and Mary Sullivan of Lisquill, with Godparents Daniel Quirk and Johanna Donoghue.' In many cases, even the abbreviations are omitted and the entries simply consist of dates, names and places.

Marriages The information given in marriage records is more variable, but always includes at least the following:

Other information that may be supplied includes:

In some rare cases the relationships of the witnesses to the people marrying is also specified. A typical Latin entry would read:

In matrimonium coniunxi sunt Danielum McCarthy et Brigidam Kelliher, de Ballyboher.
Testimonii: Cornelius Buckley, Margarita Hennessy.

Abbreviated, the entry reads:

Meaning, simply: 'Daniel McCarthy and Brigid Kelliher, of Ballyboher, are joined in matrimony; witnesses, Cornelius Buckley, Margaret Hennessy.'

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