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.
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PRONI Records on CAIN
A selection of public records from the archives of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland are available on CAIN.
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NAI Records on CAIN
A selection of public records from the National Archives, Ireland are available on CAIN.
[画像:photo of TNA, 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 Opens a new browser window..
The links below are to documents that were scanned and made available at the former PRO website.
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 Opens a new browser window. 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 Opens a new browser window..
