Come September, Ireland's first Institute for British-Irish Studies will commence operations. It was the Belfast Agreement of April last year which caused members of UCD's politics department to swing into action and work for the establishment of the institute. "The institute is a direct response to the agreement," says UCD politics lecturer John Coakley. It also develops the legacy of a former professor of politics, Dr John White, now deceased, who worked on Northern Ireland issues.

"The implementation of the Good Friday Agreement will require the closest ongoing relationships between the two governments," comments UCD's Jean Monet professor of politics, Dr Brigid Laffan. British-Irish relations, she says, will be the key to North-South relations. "We don't want an institute which will work only on North-South relations. We want to track the changing nature of relations between Britain and Ireland, but also the changing nature of Britain itself."

Northern devolution, and the establishment of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly, will alter the the entity with which Ireland deals, she says. Some of the institute's work is already being done in UCD's politics department. However, notes Coakley, the institute's aims and objectives will enable a new structure to be put up on the work. "It allows us to adopt formal programmes and collaborate with other disciplines both in UCD and outside, especially in sociology, history, law and economics. It will help to provide a critical mass of research to enable us to attract visiting academics and it will provide a mechanism for us to interact with the public sector and with policy-makers in particular."

Academics have much to learn from policy-makers - and vice versa. "If policy-makers are looking at particular types of institutional arrangements - devising a new electoral system for Northern Ireland, establishing North-South bodies or setting up the British-Irish Council - academics should be involved," Laffan argues. "We hope to explicitly encourage this." The changing relationship with Northern Ireland and cross-Border activity "will raise a lot of questions that people haven't even begun to think about", Coakley notes. "There may be inherent tensions between the needs of the North and South in some areas."

Back in January, founder members of the institute met with academics and senior civil servants to examine the redefining of north-south and east-west relationships on these islands in the coming century. As a result a book, A Tale of Five Capitals? The Transformation of Constitutional Relations in Ireland and the United Kingdom, is expected early in the year 2000. Other topics for research include regional, national and European identities and their political consequences, political culture and perceptions and managing conflict - putting the Irish experience in comparative perspective. Books, working papers and a newsletter are on the cards. "We are conscious that we need to relate not just to the academic community but to the wider community," Coakley says. "We will ensure that there is a wide range of material available."

But will academic-speak act a deterrent to dissemination of information to the general public? "The subject matter we are covering is among the most accessible in the social sciences," he stresses. In addition, a university consortium has been established with the LSE, the University of Edinburgh, Cardiff University of Wales and QUB. "The consortium will ensure that we have the academic resources to track what is happening in Great Britain and Northern Ireland," Laffan observes. "The people involved are already working on the issues we are concerned with."