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Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a national survey of information skills training (IST) practices in Irish higher education institutions, which was carried out during 2006-2007 with the aim of documenting current practice and identifying areas in which change or innovation may be warranted. Despite an emerging picture of information literacy (IL) practice worldwide, a lack of published research has made it difficult to gain an accurate overview of IL activity in the Republic of Ireland. This paper aims to partly fill this gap. Design/methodology/approach - An invitation to complete a 26-item questionnaire was sent out to librarians in all publicly-funded higher education institutions in the Irish Republic in November 2006. Out of 154 librarians, 77 responded, giving a response rate of 50 per cent. Findings - Results showed that, while librarians spend a significant portion of their time engaged in IST activities and are enthusiastic about developing and promoting their programmes, IST continues to be delivered in primarily standalone format, using non-integrated methods. Formal assessment of IS outcomes is not commonly carried out in Irish higher education institutions. Originality/value - This paper represents the first national survey of IST practices in higher education in the Irish Republic, and serves as a baseline for international comparison and future longitudinal studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]