The playwright Mr Brian Friel yesterday presented his archived works to the National Library.
The collection includes manuscripts and early drafts of his 26 plays and correspondence with literary figures such as Seamus Heaney, Micheal Mac Liammoir, John McGahern, and Brian Moore. Comprising more than 60 boxes of material, the archive chronicles his career from the 1950s to the present.
Mr Friel told a gathering at the National Library yesterday that the decision to donate the documents had been a painful one.
"But it had got to the stage where their needs were very specific. They wanted a good, dry home, they wanted some warmth and they wanted a little attention,' he said.
The director of the National Library, Mr Brendan O'Donoghue, described the Friel papers as a priceless addition to the State's archives.
Born in Omagh in 1929, Brian Friel ranks among the world's most acclaimed dramatists. His 1990 play Dancing at Lughnasa won three Tony awards.