Public Records - Annual Releases

Public Records

An important source of information about Northern Ireland is to be found in the records of: the various administrations in Stormont, and the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) which are held by PRONI; the various governments of the Republic of Ireland which are held by National Archives Ireland (NAI); and the vaious governments of the UK which are held by The National Archives (TNA) in Kew. Most of these government records where kept secret for a 30-year period (the archives are now moving to a 20-year period). CAIN holds a selection of records from PRONI and NAI, and a few records from TNA.

Belfast - Public Record Office of Northern Ireland

PRONI Records on CAIN
A selection of public records from the archives of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland are available on CAIN.

Dublin - National Archives, Ireland

NAI Records on CAIN
A selection of public records from the National Archives, Ireland are available on CAIN.

London - The National Archives, Kew

Formerly, on 1 January each year the Public Record Office (PRO) in Kew released a number of government documents under the 'thirty year rule'. Some of these documents relate to policy and events in Northern Ireland. In April 2003, the PRO combined with the Historical Manuscripts Commission (HMC) to become The National Archives .

The links below are to documents that were scanned and made available at the former PRO website.

New Year Releases 2003 - Public Records of 1972
New Year Releases 2004 - Public Records of 1973
New Year Releases 2005 - Public Records of 1974
New Year Releases 2006 - Public Records of 1975

Some third party websites have digital copies of files from The National Archives.

One of the largest collections is that of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation which makes freely available the files related Thatcher's premiership 1979-1990. See: MT's official files and search for 'Ireland'.
CAIN has produced a list, with links, of the 'Ireland' files.

The Pat Finucane Centre has made available a number of Declassified Official Documents .