Public Sector Reform in Ireland

Muiris MacCarthaigh is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and Public Administration, Queen’s University Belfast, UK.

“This book contributes much to the academic analysis of state retrenchment. In fact, it also contributes much to studies of government growth – not in terms of spending but in terms of bureaucratic size. … Public Sector Reform in Ireland documents and analyses the complexities of whole-of-government reform to counter the financial crisis using the single case study of Ireland.” (Yao Han, LSE Review of Books, blogs.lse.ac.uk, June, 2018)“This is a book which needed to be written and Muiris MacCarthaigh has done us a great service by describing and analysing, in great depth, the public sector reforms which were initiated in the period 2011–2016 … . I have no hesitation in recommending this book. It is a tremendous contribution to the existing literature in this field and I know that I will be using it extensively in the classroom.” (Aodh Quinlivan, Irish Political Studies, February, 2018)

• Introduction.- Chapter 1: Political and Administrative Contexts.- Chapter 2: A Ministry for Public Sector Reform.- Chapter 3: Through the Window of Reform.- Chapter 4: Shrinking the State: Organisational Reform and Rationalisation.- Chapter 5: Re-negotiating the ‘Bargain’.- Chapter 6: Public Expenditure Reform.-Chapter 7: Culture Reform: Civil Service Renewal.- Chapter 8: Political Reform.- Conclusions.