Murphy C, McConnell, D (2006) The Sunday Times Guide to Secondary Schools in Ireland. Penguin, ISBN: 1844881326.

This book introduced new research techniques into Ireland and the UK to produce the largest independent database on the performance of Irish secondary schools. Official disclosure of data on the performance of Irish students had been outlawed by legislation passed in the Irish parliament. However, combining new disclosure regulations required under the Freedom of Information Act, statistical analysis methods and computer assisted reporting techniques, the authors were able to produce this ground-breaking book. It revealed for the first time the enormous gap in the educational attainment of Irish schools. Using both quantitative and qualitative data the book compared the performance of over 721 secondary schools in Ireland. The database, on which it was based, has since been used for several important studies by University College Dublin and others on how the academic performance of schools can be improved.