That small visionary group saw the need to preserve Ireland’s military records. Their vision became today’s outward facing and internationally renowned Military Archives, the place of deposit for records relating to the Defence Forces and the Department of Defence.

In exploring its history, he has shown, to quote President Michael D. Higgins, ‘the fundamental importance of the Military Archives towards our understanding of the founding events of the state’ and indeed, of the century that has followed.

Daniel Ayiotis is the Director of the Military Archives and a commandant in the Irish Army, based at Cathal Brugha Barracks, Rathmines, Dublin. Since 1990 the Military Archives has been the statutory place of deposit for the records of the Irish Defence Forces, Department of Defence, and Army Pensions Board under the terms of the National Archives of Ireland Act, 1986.