The Republic of Ireland is one of EU states most deeply affected by the Eurozone fiscal crisis. The collapse in Irish public finances has forced a series of sweeping retrenchment and reform measures that are unprecedented in a national context, and which have generated considerable international interest given the apparent lack of political unrest these reforms have caused. In this paper, we seek to provide for better understanding of these responses to fiscal crisis by considering how the Irish state has ‘shrunk’ along four inter-related dimensions:
– Changes to the size and reach of the public administration. Here we are interested in not alone the numbers of people working directly in the bureaucracy, but also those areas of public service provision that have been most keenly affected by cutbacks and how depoliticization may play a role in this.
– Changing structures of government. Here the focus is on the state agency sector, which, following a sustained period of expansion during the 1990s and early 2000 is currently witnessing a process of ‘de-agencification’. I wish to explore this process in some detail, identifying the variety of approaches adopted.
– The effect of the crisis on modes of public sector governance. Specifically, we are concerned along this dimension with changes to the institutions of government, as well as the centralizing and decentralizing pressures which have emerged within the public sphere.
– The changing nature of political-administrative relations. In this case, we are interested in changes to the public service ‘bargain’ that have emerged, and the medium to long term consequences of this.
The paper will conclude by suggesting some lessons for our understanding of how governments respond to conditions of severe fiscal pressure and the effects of the current crisis on our understanding of the role of the modern state.
