I know the feeling my great grandfather came over from Ireland. I had been told erroneously that the UK did not consider me a citizen about 20 years ago. I revisited the information a few years ago and found I was in fact considered a dual citizen.

Laura, is your father or grandmother still alive? If so, you could have one of them claim Irish citizenship through their parent/grandparent who was born in Ireland, and then you could claim it off your father or grandmother. There's a limit to how many generations outside Ireland can do that if the family doesn't register their kids with the Registry of Foreign Births, but it's worth looking into. If you can finagle getting Irish citizenship, your kids could come to the country without problem and would eventually get citizenship themselves. This would erase your family's need to deal with the Registry of Foreign Births.