Authors: Paula Palma Molina, Emma Dillon and Trevor Donnellan (Teagasc)
To demonstrate both the potential and limitations of selected methods and tools, while promoting the replication of effective solutions and best practices across Member States, Tools4CAP has implemented a Replication Lab through 12 case studies. One of these focused on Ireland, where an Intervention Logic (IL) was developed for several direct payment interventions included in the Irish CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) 2023–2027. These include BISS (Basic Income Support for Sustainability), CRISS (Complementary Redistributive Income Support for Sustainability), CIS-YF (Complementary Income Support for Young Farmers), and the Eco-Schemes from Pillar I, and ANC (Areas of Natural Constraints) scheme from Pillar II. The case study also identified potential indicators to support both the monitoring and ex-post evaluation of these measures.
Several lessons emerged from the implementation of the case study. First, ILs are highly flexible tools that can be applied at various stages of the policy cycle. While they are typically recommended at the planning stage (i.e., for ex-ante analysis), they can also be developed during ex-post evaluations, once a policy has already been implemented. Second, ILs do not require substantial resources or advanced technical capacity. Depending on policy complexity and data availability, they can be developed within a relatively short timeframe.
At the same time, the case study highlighted that meaningful stakeholder participation is essential to ensure that the Intervention Logic is both useful and transparent. Ideally, stakeholders should be involved from the outset or, at minimum, during the validation of outputs. This requirement can present a challenge when stakeholders are not available or able to contribute actively. Finally, the IL diagram should be seen as a “living document”, to be refined and updated as new evidence becomes available through ex-post evaluations.
During presentations of the Irish case study to other Teagasc researchers, an opportunity arose to organise a series of indicator workshops in collaboration with a team from another EU Horizon-funded project (Step Up). This partnership helped streamline logistics and reduced the need for additional resource allocation.