Organisational Change in Irish Public Administration

Capturing, mapping and understanding organisational change within bureaucracies is inherently problematic, and the paucity of empirical research in this area reflects the traditional reluctance of scholars to pursue this endeavour. In this article, drawing on the Irish case of organisational change, potential avenues for overcoming such challenges are presented. Drawing on the resources of a time-series database which captures and codes the life-cycle of all Irish public organisations since independence, the paper explores the evolution of the Irish administrative system since the independence of the state in 1922. These findings provide some pointers toward overcoming the challenges associated with studying change in Whitehall-type bureaucracies.public administration, bureaucracies, organisational change, independence

Organising for Growth: Irish State Administration 1958-2008

This paper analyses some key features of Irish public administration as it has developed since the foundation of the state, paying particular attention to the period from the late 1950s onward. During these decades, notwithstanding successive waves of concern expressed over the need for public sector reform, the evidence suggests an underlying lack of coherence in the evolution of the public administration system that resulted in a poor capacity for effective policy coordination. Yet the drive toward economic modernisation also resulted in the creation of new state competence to support industrial development both directly and indirectly. These changes can be tracked organisationally, drawing on the database of the IRCHSS-funded Mapping the Irish State project.

When separate organizations merge their back office functions

Shared services can deliver efficiencies but carry hidden costs, write Muiris MacCarthaigh and Thomas Elsto

Reforming the Irish Public Service: A Multiple Streams Perspective

Following the Irish general election of 2011, a new ministry emerged which sought to combine public expenditure, industrial relations and public sector reform. The creation of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) represented a major departure in Irish administrative history, not least because it introduced a new actor at the heart of Irish government, but also for the range of tasks with which it was endowed. This article provides an administrative reform context for the creation of DPER before examining its work across three domains: industrial relations, financial management reform and administrative reform. Drawing on Kingdon’s ‘multiple streams’ model of policy change, the article argues that reform efforts across all three were made possible by the ‘window of opportunity’ presented by the department’s creation and the coming together of problems, policies and politics in respect of public service reform