The Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, has attended what his officials say is his last public engagement.
The Minister was releasing security files from the 1920s and 1930s, from the Department of Justice to the National Archives, where the general public can now access them.
Speaking briefly to reporters afterwards, Michael McDowell thanked the media for what he called their 'courtesy' over the years but refused to make any further comment.
The release of this material comes as a result of the work of the Archives Advisory Group established by the Tánaiste last year.
The group included a number of national academic and legal figures and was chaired by Professor Mary Daly of UCD.
Mr McDowell had asked the group to advise the Department on the historical value of the 187 files and records and on how these archives could be made more widely available.
The files detail the operation of security policy in the State in the first decade after Independence.
They include information on the murder of the Minister for Justice, Kevin O'Higgins, in 1927, as well as the emergence of several left-wing revolutionary groups.
Mr McDowell welcomed the release of the material, calling it a 'fascinating insight into the decisions which Ministers had to make during a volatile and troubled period in Irish history'.
