This thesis entitled ‘Does Voluntarism Still Exist? A Study on the Role of the State in the Voluntarist Industrial Relations System in Ireland’ by Katharina Sophia Zimmer explores the role of the state in Irish industrial relations and evaluates whether voluntarism still exists. While traditionally the role of the state in Irish industrial relations has been limited to ‘holding the ring’ (Wedderburn, 1986) for the industrial relations actors to interact autonomously, current developments show increasing state legal intervention in an increasingly unbalanced system. A shift can be observed in the balance of power between unions and employers and their representatives. Trade union density and ultimately their power is shrinking, while employers exhibit a dismissive attitude towards participation in voluntary collective bargaining processes. In this context, this study aims to define and reconsider Irish voluntarism and deduce a suitable future concept for Irish industrial relations. It analyses the current challenges to the balance of power between unions and employers and their representatives in contemporary voluntarism. It furthermore evaluates how the state can rebalance power by voluntarist and legal means. Beyond that, the thesis examines the existence of constitutional trade union recognition for the purpose of collective bargaining in Ireland, as well as the role of trust in Irish industrial relations. It therein aims to answer the fundamental question of whether voluntarism and state legal intervention are a contradiction in terms. The main rationale of this study is to examine the role of the state in industrial relations, as well as the present and future of voluntarism in Ireland. Qualitative research was conducted to that end. The data was derived from semi-structured interviews with key actors and experts in Irish industrial relations, as well as from documentary analysis. The thesis concludes that voluntarism no longer exists in its traditional sense. It has to be reconsidered with regard to the role of the state. The role of the state is increasingly significant. In this context, state legal intervention is not in contradiction with voluntarism but a potential means of enabling it to remain in place and continue to be the principle of Irish industrial relations into the future. However, the study asserts that the balance of power should ultimately be recalibrated if voluntarism is to remain the core characteristic of Irish industrial relations. This research contributes to research conducted on voluntarism and the role of the state and the law in Irish industrial relations.