The study of Irish politics: lessons from Michael Gallagher

For over forty years, Michael Gallagher has been one of the most formidable voices in the study of Irish politics. A member of Trinity College’s Department of Political Science from 1979 to 2021, Gallagher taught Irish politics to generations of undergraduate and postgraduate students. A past president of the Political Studies Association of Ireland (PSAI), he contributed to that association’s efforts to introduce up-to-date research methods and better sources of data to the study of Irish politics. But most importantly, Gallagher contributed through his own work to the study of Irish politics. Through these works, as well as dozens of articles, Gallagher has made important and influential contributions to virtually every area of research in the field of Irish politics. The papers in this special issue each take Gallagher’s work in one of these areas as a starting point. Some survey where the field has developed since Gallagher’s first contributions in that area. Others develop, modify, or extend Gallagher’s analysis using new methods and new sources of data. Together, the papers paint a portrait of the cutting edge of the field of Irish politics, a field importantly shaped by Gallagher along many dimensions.