Improving the use of research evidence to inform economic policy-making in Ireland: Reflections on some key changes since 2012

Since the global financial crisis, Ireland has increasingly adopted a more evidence-informed approach to policy development. Over the past fifteen years, this shift has been reflected in greater investment in the National Statistical Service, greater funding of policy-relevant research projects and postgraduate programmes, the establishment of the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES) in 2012, and, most recently, by the naming of ‘Data and Evidence’ as the first pillar of the Government of Ireland Policy Handbook published in 2025. The purpose of IGEES is to strengthen the analytical capability within the civil service to deliver economic research evidence to policy officials who are advising senior politicians. This paper revisits several issues raised in Ruane’s article ‘Research evidence and policymaking in Ireland’ previously published in volume 60 of Administration in 2012, which remain pertinent today. It then examines the evolution of IGEES as the first cross-departmental group of professionals in the Irish civil service, focusing on what is required for its continued development and future sustainability. The paper goes on to consider IGEES as the first step in developing a more skills-based civil service, moving Ireland away from the inherited pre-independence, ‘generalist’ United Kingdom civil-service model.