Tom Power,
As far as I'm aware (and I stand to be corrected), an IR includes the privileges of being able to fly at night (as night flying is considered IFR), but I am led to 'believe' that you still require a night qualification to gain your CPL. My reasoning behind this is theoretically you could have your fATPL without ever having flown at night if you could simply take your IR, then move onto the CPL, which of course would be impractical.
Anybody else know anything about this?