The Irish Association for European Studies (IAES) was first created in the early 1970s and its operation was based on objectives similar to those which apply to IACES today.

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Included amongst these aims was a commitment to promote teaching and research in European Studies, and provide a forum for informed and detailed discussion of EU issues relevant to Ireland.

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Notably, the inaugural President of IAES was former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson. Others who were closely involved with the  organisation in the 1970s were Tom Garvin, Miriam Hederman-O’Brien, Maurice Manning and Professor Patrick Keatinge.

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The IAES convened a number of conferences and events during this period and in 1981/2 produced a Register of European Studies in Ireland, 1981-1982 (Dublin: Irish Association of European Studies, 1982) which was compiled by Professor Philomena Murray. The IAES also maintained links with the wider Irish political science community via an engagement with the Political Studies Association of Ireland (PSAI).

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From the 2000s onwards, the PSAI became the key forum for IAES events and activities. In 2008, the Convenors of the PSAI’s European Studies Specialist Group (ESSG) convened an event at the IIEA which resulted in a special issue of Irish Political Studies (2009) edited by Katy Hayward and Mary C. Murphy.