Professor James McKernan, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, a Founder Member of the Educational Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI) was invited as the Keynote Speaker at the 30th Annual Conference of ESAI in University College Cork, Ireland, March 10-13th 2005 to speak on "Educational Research: 1975-2005" .McKernan also gave a paper on "Critical Realism and Action Research ".    Professor McKernan came to ECU as the King Distinguished Professor of Education from the Deanship at University of Limerick's Faculty of Education.