Confidential national security files have today been released by outgoing Justice Minister Michael McDowell.
In what is believed to be his last public engagement, the Tánaiste has today transferred 187 files and records dealing with national security matters between 1923 to 1933, including reports on IRA members, to the National Archives.
The release follows his decision in February 2006 to establish a working group to examine the records and advise department officials on their historical value and how they could be made accessible.
Mr McDowell said the papers would now be available for inspection by the public, without restriction. "I have no doubt that the department's decision will be particularly welcome news for historians and those engaged in academic research related to this period of Irish history," he said.
Some of the policy and administration matters include:
- Detailed reports of the activities of members of the anti-State IRA (referred to in official reports of the time as "Irregulars" ), after the end of the Civil War in 1923;
- The operation of the general amnesty announced by the government in November 1924 for offences committed in the period up to the end of the Civil War;
- The deteriorating security situation in the early 1930s and the emergence of several left-wing revolutionary groups;
- The close attention given by authorities to various left-wing groups, sympathetic to communism from the late 1920s;
- Security policy and policing after Fianna Fail entered government for the first time.
In a statement the Tánaiste said the files gave a fascinating insight into the decisions that ministers had to make "during a volatile and troubled period in Irish history".
Senior officials in the Department of Justice during these years had provided "cogent, measured and independent advice and analysis" on a range of difficult and urgent matters, he said.
Following the release, Mr McDowell thanked the media for their "courtesy" over the years, but made no further comment.