I was honoured, and some what apprehensive, when asked to be editor of Poetry Ireland Review. Since John Jordan got it off on a proper footing in the 1970s, successive editors have seen to it that Poetry Ireland Review has valuably mixed work by established and assured poets with that by new and emergent voices. After so many years of publication, there is some risk of the magazine's being taken for granted; one way of guarding against this has been to invite editors to take over the magazine for a period of four issues, thus ensuring continual change. Looking back over the list of my predecessors, I am indeed pleased to take my deferential place in that line. The editorship is a position of trust. A great many people submit to Poetry Ireland Review, far more than the magazine can hope - or even wish - to publish. Nevertheless, especially for those on the threshold of writing, the very act of getting some poems into an envelope and addressing them to an editor is a decisive step, a move from the private to the public arena. All deserve full consideration, and the courtesy of a not unduly delayed decision. So that as editor I am aware of a two-fold resposibility - to poetry Ireland and its magazine and readers, and to contributors, actual and aspirant.