Under the National Archives of Ireland Act, 1986, all records of Government Departments, including the courts and a range of other bodies, must be preserved and transferred to the National Archives when they are thirty years old, unless their disposal has been specifically authorised by the Director.Thousands of official documents are transferred annually to the National Archives of Ireland by Government Departments and archives of the following Departments and State agencies are available for consultation by members of the public at the National Archives of Ireland.