The Irish Queer Archive (Cartlann Aiteach na hÉireann) contains the most comprehensive collection of material in Ireland relating to homosexuality, and lesbian/gay, bisexual and transgender studies in general.

There are some quarter million press cuttings from the late 1960s onwards, a library of several hundred international titles (the earliest, a US title, dates from 1951), a near complete set of all lesbian/gay titles (periodicals and single issues) published since 1974 on the island of Ireland, and a fascinating collection of audiovisual material, photographs and slides, flyers, posters, badges and other ephemera.

Amongst the private papers and organisational records are the archives of Alternative Miss Ireland, the Dublin Lesbian & Gay Film Festival (GAZE), Sexual Liberation Movement (SLM), the National LGBT Federation or NXF (earlier known as NGF), Gay Health Action (GHA), the Irish Gay Rights Movement, Lesbians Organising Together (LOT), Union for Sexual Freedoms in Ireland (USFI), GLEN, Dublin LGBT Pride, Gays Against Imperialism and GCN.

In 1997, activist Tonie Walshe reorganised the NXF archive holdings into what would later become the Irish Queer Archive (IQA). For many years he and an activist committee gathered, secured and protected the holdings, often in insecure spaces around the city. Recognizing the importance of the collection the committee negotiated accession of the materials into one of Ireland’s major national repositories, the National Library of Ireland (NLI). Having the histories and records of Ireland’s LGBTIQ+ communities in Ireland’s National Library is a real step in the inclusion and acceptance of LGBTIQ+ stories.

Since 2008 the NLI has catalogued a significant portion of the IQA, making it accessible to researchers, historians, scholars and interested readers. Using the IQA scholars and historians have been writing new and informed queer histories, its material has been used in exhibitions, media work and documentaries. For instance, drawing on materials from IQA’s collection, Walsh curated both “Pride and Protest” at Belfast’s Central Library (2005) and “Revolting Homosexuals” (Outhouse and GUBU, Dublin 2004).

The IQA remains a growing collection and adding to the materials is important to continue representing the histories of LGBTIQ+ people and communities on the island.