Evidence Synthesis Ireland led a Rapid Evidence Support System Assessment (RESSA) to examine the demand for, supply of and coordination around evidence for health policy decisions in Ireland. This assessment highlights both the progress made and the work still needed to strengthen Ireland’s evidence support system for health policymaking. The Department of Health has taken important steps in recent years to expand analytical capacity, strengthen research and evaluation functions and collaborate with national agencies. These efforts provide a foundation for further progress in embedding evidence use across the policy system. While there is a clear commitment to using evidence and examples of good practice, challenges remain in ensuring consistent application and embedding formal structures. Moving from reliance on informal networks to clearly governed processes, triaging questions, matching them to appropriate research evidence, and logging/quality assurance/integration of outputs will be critical. Strengthening coordination, building capacity and investing in interface roles will be key to making evidence use more routine, transparent and sustainable. If piloted and shown to be effective, measures such as a central repository, rapid-response evidence services, an evidence synthesis hub and embedded knowledge-broker roles can help institutionalise good practice. Overall, there is an opportunity to build on existing foundations and develop a more integrated approach to evidence-informed decision-making that can withstand personnel changes and respond to both routine and urgent policy needs.
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