The Irish software industry is facing a new challenge. Prior to this, Ireland had emerged as one of the leading software exporters in the world. Then came the downturn in the global economy, the burst of the 'dot com' bubble and now Ireland faces competition in the form of developing third world economies. The Irish software industry will struggle to compete with the vast, skilled but cheap labour force that these economies can offer in abundance. Is there any other field in which the Irish software industry can compete? Quality in Ireland had traditionally only been applied to the manufacturing industry. However, since the continued development of the Irish software industry, have the Irish software community taken software quality seriously enough? This paper presents the results of research conducted with members of the Irish software community to gauge their attitudes and opinions towards software quality. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.