The chapters set out here constitute the Irish contribution to the International Library of Policy Analysis series, edited by Michael Howlett and Iris Geva-May, and published by Policy Press. The volume is thus one star in the vast constellation being developed by the series editors to enable the comparison of policy analysis across countries. This book presents the evolution of policy analysis in Ireland and the cutting edge of policy analysis research in the country at the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century. The contributors to this volume are the leading scholars and practitioners of policy analysis in Ireland. The Irish state and academia came late to policy analysis, but this volume highlights that there has been significant catch-up, and innovation, over the past four decades.

The template for the volume was established in 2007 by Laurent Dobuzinskis, Michael Howlett and David Laycock with Policy Analysis in Canada (published by the University of Toronto Press) and built on by each subsequent volume in the International Library of Policy Analysis series published by Policy Press. As such, this volume is structured similarly to its predecessors, and although it is a country-specific study, the basic data presented here are comparable with those from other volumes, thus contributing to future comparative policy analysis. It is our hope that this book will be of interest to practitioners, scholars and anyone else concerned with the policy-making process in Ireland and its analysis.