Government publications are documents and information produced by government departments and central government organisations. They include legislation, policy documents, discussion documents, statistics and reports.

Irish Government Publications

Irish government publications are published either by the Stationery Office or by the department or organisation itself. The Library holds an extensive collection of official Irish materials in the Government Publications section in the Reference Collection on the Ground Floor. This material can be found using the Library’s Catalogue.

Increasingly, documentation is also being made available through official government department web sites. So for example if you were looking for the 2007 Energy white paper you would find it on the web from the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources website.

EU and other official publications

Similar profiles of documentation are produced in other countries. Official international organisations such as the European Union, the OECD, the United Nations, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation also produce a wealth of legal, economic, statistical and administrative material, much of which is available on the web.

The Library does not keep a comprehensive collection of EU documentation. Much of what we do keep, including most Eurostat publications, is available only up to the mid-1990s. However, we do hold current runs of Eurostat’s Data for short term economic analysis from 1982 to date and the Commission's European economy series.

The European Union's website provides extensive information about the EU.

NB: we provide full access to EU legislation and case law through the LexisNexis database.