Persons of Irish paternal ancestry that would like to contribute to research combining traditional genealogy, genetic genealogy, and mapping technology to reveal likely points of ancestral origin in the middle ages in Ireland can join this project for the purposes of the hobby of genealogy. Unlike surname-based projects, the Irish Mapping DNA Project is focused on aggregating Y-DNA SNP results for mapping, scientific analysis, and research papers on Ireland and the British Isles. A decision to join the project should be based on your interest and consent to make your anonymized DNA results eligible to be included in broader research on the British Isles. In particular, we combine geographically-coded data points with surname and place name characteristics of the Irish Clans that can be more insightful than simple Y-STR genetic distance. We want the project participants to be a random sampling of Irish descendants as a whole, so therefore only a single Y-DNA lineage for your family / kin group is needed. We do not want to 'recruit' your individual matches for the project unless they are born in Ireland and come from multiple geographies. Time and the number of participants generally prevent us from being able to provide you with personal assistance on your individual family genealogy research. Further, there are no tools or additional information for autosomal DNA results in the Project beyond what a Family Finder test-taker already has access to in his or her individual FTDNA profile. As this is a geographically-oriented project, we sub-group members by mid-resolution SNP markers rather than surnames. This choice is based on the capabilities of the current online mapping tools so that some patterns may be discernible. This project IS NOT INTENDED, nor allowed to be used for law enforcement, missing persons, or adoptee reunion efforts. Please do not join the project or use its information for those purposes.