Steve, if you have your grandfather's date and place of birth you should be able to get his birth cert online from the authorities in Ireland. There are firms that will get this for you for a nice fee (nice for them, that is); you can get it directly through the General Register Office.

I didn't take your reference to "not all elderly nuns" as having anything to do with Joe's friend, but as a reference to the abuse of women and children by nuns in Ireland. I was about to say historic, but there was a case last year of a religious-run home for disabled people abusing them.

Perhaps your friend, Joe, should keep her head down. Dublin Airport's US immigration clearance is notorious, for instance.