This article applies developmental state analysis to the Irish tourism industry between 1987 and 2007 and argues that the state generates growth by constructing institutions around the development project. Combining in-depth interviews of key players with extensive documentary analysis, the case study found that the relationship between state institutions and private sector coalitions was central to the development of the industry. These relationships were explained through the concept of interlocking regimes whereby regimes are constituted through the dimensions of power arrangements, policy paradigms, organisations and policy. The implementation of a development model is shaped by the extent to which a coalition and a state regime interlock to impose that model. This occurs when regimes interact strategically through some or all of the dimensions of both regimes. In the Irish case, the research found that new organisational alliances within the private sector disturbed the power arrangements underpinning the status quo. A new interlock between the state and the business class led to regime change and the display of authority by political leaders played a significant role in establishing a new regime with a new policy paradigm and goals for the sector, which facilitated the phenomenal growth of the sector.