Abstract: Ammonium analyses of representative rocks from the Rosses granite complex (Ireland) and their constituent mineral show that any variation of magmatic origin has been completely obscured by pervasive hydrothermal alteration. The altered rocks are strongly enriched in the ammonium ion, most of which is held by chloritized biotite and sericitized plagioclase. The present ammonium content of the Rosses granites averages 13 ppm, but the original ammonium content of the magmas is estimated to have been less than 5 ppm. Potassium feldspars may preserve a better record of the original magmatic ammonium content than the whole rocks or the biotites.