Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Ireland was prominent in Scottish theatre and spent ten years as director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. When he left the post in 2003 he controversially attacked the Scottish arts establishment for providing "theatre on the cheap" and the Scottish Executive for putting plans for a National Theatre of Scotland on "the back burner". The National Theatre of Scotland was finally launched in 2006. He also appeared in an episode of "Auf Wiedersehen, Pet" as journalist Sid Payne. In some early TV appearances (e.g. the BBC's ""Five Red Herrings"") he was credited as "Ian Ireland".