This handbook is intended to provide guidance to develop policy in a coherent and consistent manner across the Irish civil service. It sets out a framework and simplified structured approach to support policy development. This helps identify good practice and what contributes to policy formulation. 

The handbook is built around two key features: the Three Pillars and the 5Ds. It starts by setting out three fundamentals of policy development – the Three Pillar Framework of data & evidence, feasibility & implementation, and legitimacy. It then goes on to outline five general phases or stages of development – the 5Ds – that a typical policy would, ideally, be expected to follow: 

1. Demand for policy
2. Deepen understanding of the policy challenges
3. Design with best advice
4. Decide from among alternatives, and then
5. Deliver the preferred solution. 

There are separate chapters focused on each of the 5Ds. These chapters explain the aim of the phase and provide a guide through the tasks that might be undertaken during that phase to achieve that aim. Templates are provided for typical outputs and case studies used to illustrate the phase in practice. 

The handbook is intended as a reference tool. It is not intended to be prescriptive. It is best thought of as a guide to the steps that should, in ideal circumstances, be followed when developing policy.

It is accompanied by a video to assist in understanding the key features.