The collection was presented by Charles J Haughey's son, Minister of State for Education and Enterprise Seán Haughey. 

Contained in 350 boxes, the collection includes correspondence and papers from all periods of Charles Haughey’s career. In accordance with the standard 30-year rule, access to the papers will not be permitted until 2022 - thirty years after Mr Haughey's retirement from public life in 1992.

A spokeswoman for DCU said the papers had been donated to the university as a gift by the Haughey family and no payment was involved. They will be housed in the DCU library in an archival facility to be named after the former taoiseach.

Family members in attendance at the ceremony (along with Minister Seán Haughey) included the former taoiseach’s wife Maureen, surviving siblings Ms Maureen Haughey and Fr Eoghan Haughey, daughter Eimear Mulhern, sons Ciarán and Conor Haughey and nephew Niall Haughey.

Others in attendance included former Haughey adviser and current Minister of State for Finance Martin Mansergh; former top civil servant Pádraig Ó hUiginn; Mr Haughey’s early business partner Harry Boland; and trade unionist Séamus Puirsíl.

Expressing his thanks to the Haughey family, DCU president Ferdinand von Prondzynski said:

“What we are launching here today is . . . an unparalleled archive of political-historical material of the kind that, I suspect, does not exist anywhere else in Ireland. The significance of this archive for historical purposes, for political purposes, is beyond description.”

Prof Eunan O’Halpin, of Trinity College Dublin, said the collection would be important, not just for students of political history, “but for social historians and for historians of Irish life”.

The DCU Educational Trust, the fundraising arm of the university, also announced:

• two Charles J Haughey Access Scholarships, which will support students attending DCU from the Northside Partnership area of northeast Dublin;
• the Charles J Haughey Doctoral Fellowships in Law and Government, supporting post-graduate research.

Members of the public can contribute to the scholarship fund. A number of contributions have already been made but the identities of the donors and the amounts donated remain private, in line with standard practice.  (Source: Irish Times)