Sterilisation by the Irving procedure accompanying caesarean section was the favoured form of sterilisation at Paarl Hospital from 1971 to 1985. No subsequent pregnancies have been reported from the 200 cases and this success is compared with sterilisation failure rates of 1.35% with the Pomeroy method, 1.27% with the total fimbriectomy method, 0.41% with the Vienna or modified Pritchard method, and 0.89% with the Filshie-clip method: Irving sterilisation is accordingly advised as the method of choice at the time of caesarean section.