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The Irish Landslides Group (ILWG) was established in early 2004 as a direct response to the landslides in the autumn of 2003. It was felt important that it should be a multi-disciplinary team, bringing together various types of expertise which are relevant to landslide studies. This point is often stressed in the international literature on the subject (Brunsden,1993). The Group includes expertise on geology (Bedrock and Quaternary), geomorphology, geotechnical engineering, planning, and GIS. The participants were drawn from state and semi-state agencies, and also the universities (Appendix 1).

Main objectives:-

1. Build a national database of past landslide events

2. Examine geotechnical parameters with regard to landslides.

3. Assess the potential for landslide susceptibility mapping in Ireland.

4. Make recommendations on the integration of landslide hazard issues into the planning process.

5. Promotion of landslide research in Ireland.

6. Raise public awareness about landslide hazard in Ireland.

It is not within the remit of the ILWG to undertake site-specific studies at landslide events as they occur but to collate data on landslides at a national level in order to make recommendations for future mitigation of landslide risk. The work of the Group was focused on landslide events inland on the island of Ireland and the group was also very keen that it should be an all-Ireland project. It did not consider submarine slope failures or coastal landslides caused by marine erosion. This latter is a very important category of slope failure in Ireland as indicated by the problems of marine erosion around our coasts. However it was decided that the ILWG could not cover this in any detail, as it was felt the group did not have the resources within its timeframe of operation to examine it adequately and also because information on coastal instability is very poorly collated and there is very limited published data. It is certainly a topic for future study both at a national and regional level.​