Heat-transfer irreversibilities are included in the analysis of the ideal absorption refrigeration cycle working with three heat reservoirs. An expression is obtained for the maximum cooling capacity of the cycle in terms of four non-dimensional design and operating variables. The condition for the maximum cooling capacity depends only on the temperature ratios. The design variables for the parametric study are estimated by fitting performance data from a real absorption refrigeration machine. The parametric study gives the variation of the maximum cooling capacity, the coefficient of performance and the second-law efficiency of a typical absorption cycle with operating variables.