Departmental records

Under the National Archives Act, 1986, all records of Government Departments, including the courts and a range of other bodies, must be preserved and transferred to the National Archives when they are thirty years old, unless their disposal has been specifically authorised by the Director.

Thousands of official documents are transferred annually to the National Archives by Government Departments and archives of the following Departments and State agencies are available for consultation by members of the public in our Reading Room. Departmental titles which are hyperlinked indicate a finding aid database which can be searched online.

• Agriculture, Department of, including predecessor and successor bodies
• Attorney General, Office of the
• Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Department of
• Comptroller and Auditor General, Office of the
• Education, Department of, including predecessor and successor bodies
• Environment, Community and Local Government, Department of the
• Fair Trade Commission
• Finance, Department of
• Foreign Affairs, Department of, including predecessor and successor bodies (also includes the Secretary’s Papers)
• Gaeltacht, Roinn na, including predecessor and successor bodies
• Government Information Service
• Health, Department of, including predecessor and successor bodies
• Industry and Commerce, Department of, including predecessor and successor bodies
• Justice, Department of, including predecessor and successor bodies
• Labour Court
• National Archives
• Patents Office
• President, Office of the Secretary to the
• Registry of Friendly Societies
• Social Welfare, Department of, including predecessor and successor bodies
• Taoiseach, Department of the, including predecessor bodies
  (also includes the Papers of Jack Lynch, Taoiseach during the years 1966–1973 and 1977–1979)
• Transport, Department of, including predecessor and successor bodies