Editing State papers (section)

==Ireland==
{{See also|Public Record Office of Northern Ireland}}

In Ireland, these records were held in a single repository, the Public Record Office. In 1922, this was in two locations, the Bermingham Tower of [[Dublin Castle]] and the [[Four Courts]] on [[Dublin]]'s quays. However, the vast majority of records, particularly before 1790, were held in the Four Courts. When the Four Courts was occupied by [[Anglo-Irish Treaty|anti-Treaty]] forces of the [[Irish Republican Army]] in April 1922, the [[Anglo-Irish Treaty|pro-Treaty]] forces came under pressure to remove them. Following the assassination of the British Field Marshal, [[Sir Henry Wilson, 1st Baronet|Henry Hughes Wilson]] by anti-Treaty forces on 22 June, the British 
government pressed the [[Provisional Government of Ireland (1922)|Provisional Government]] to take action or else British forces, still occupying Ireland, would intervene. On 27 June, [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]], leader of the pro-Treaty IRA, gave the order to attack the occupying force in what is widely regarded as the opening shot of the [[Irish Civil War]]. In the process, [[Battle of Dublin#Public Record Office explosion|whether by external artillery or internal sabotage]], most of these records were destroyed.

The Irish State Paper Office contains papers from the offices of:
* [[President of Ireland]]
* [[Taoiseach]]
* [[Oireachtas]], i.e. [[Dáil Éireann]] and [[Seanad Éireann]]
* [[Department of state (Ireland)|Departments of State]]

There are papers also from former offices of state, including:
* [[King of Ireland]]
* [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland relating to Ireland]]
* [[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland]]
* [[Chief Secretary for Ireland]]
* [[Under Secretary for Ireland]]
* [[Irish House of Commons]] & [[Irish House of Lords]]
* [[House of Commons of Southern Ireland]]
* [[Attorney-General for Ireland]]
* [[Governor-General of the Irish Free State]]

The Irish State Paper Office was formerly located in [[Dublin Castle]], while the Irish Public Records Office was located at the [[Four Courts]]. In the late 1980s the distinction was abolished and both archives merged and moved to a new [[National Archives of Ireland]] in Bishop Street in Dublin.<ref>[http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/1017/macgiollacoilleb.html Death of former State archivist] RTÉ News, 2006-10-17.</ref>