Early drafts of the 1937 Constitution and secret British intelligence reports allegedly "suppressed" after the 1916 Rising are among the documents contained in a newly catalogued collection of papers belonging to Éamon de Valera.
The papers were donated by the former taoiseach and president in his will to the Franciscan Library in Killiney, Co Dublin, which in turn transferred them for safekeeping to University College Dublin in 1998.
It is only now, however, that a full catalogue has been completed of the 200 boxes of public and private material.
UCD principal archivist Séamus Helferty said that while the collection was in good physical order "the size of it was a challenge".
Some of the most revealing files relate to de Valera's fundraising tour of the United States in 1919-20, and papers showing the former Fianna Fáil leader's thought-processes on Bunreacht na hÉireann.
"You have successive drafts of the Constitution and a lot of correspondence and discussion documents. You can trace the evolution of the thing, and various changes of mind," said Mr Helferty.
He also cited the intriguing discovery of 133 intelligence reports and dispatches between successive commanders-in-chief of British forces in Ireland, or their various officers, in 1916-17. Among these was a secret communication concerning Maj Gen LB Friend's presence in England on leave of absence the day on which "disturbances in Dublin commenced".
The same letter addressed the decision of certain officers of the Irish Command to attend a race meeting in Baldoyle on the same day.
There was also a report by Gen Sir John Maxwell on the Easter Rising, and the process of the rebels' surrender.
Mr Helferty said: "There might not be any great new revelations in these documents but the fact that they are originals is significant." He noted some historians had speculated that the files were removed from official archives in London by "someone who was aware of their significance", and later came into de Valera's possession, possibly in the 1960s.
A copy of the catalogue was presented yesterday to Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin at a function at Newman House to mark the formal establishment of the School of History and Archives.
The school replaces the old department of archives and school of history at UCD under recently-announced institutional reforms. Queries about accessing the de Valera archive can be addressed to archives@ucd.ie
