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Palgrave Macmillan

Modes of Politicization in the Irish Civil Service

Ministers and the Politico-Administrative Relationship in Ireland

  • Book
  • © 2016

Overview

Authors:
  1. Aodhán Mac Cormaic

    1. Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Galway, Ireland

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  • Includes extensive material from original, anonymised, interviews conducted with retired Cabinet-level Ministers and retired Secretaries General of government departments
  • Sets the politico-administrative system of Ireland in the context of its recent economic collapse
  • Of particular interest to academics in the fields of public governance, public policy, and public management

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Aodhán Mac Cormaic
    Pages 1-6

  3. Interviewing Elites: Key Questions for Research Design

    • Aodhán Mac Cormaic
    Pages 7-16

  4. Theoretical Perspectives and Politicization in Other Jurisdictions

    • Aodhán Mac Cormaic
    Pages 17-59

  5. The Politico-Administrative Relationship in Ireland

    • Aodhán Mac Cormaic
    Pages 61-84

  6. A Common View but Conflicting Evidence

    • Aodhán Mac Cormaic
    Pages 85-108

  7. The Irish Case from a Theoretical Perspective

    • Aodhán Mac Cormaic
    Pages 109-129

  8. Conclusion

    • Aodhán Mac Cormaic
    Pages 131-138

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 139-144
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Keywords

About this book

This book presents a study of the relationship between Cabinet-level Ministers and top civil servants in Ireland. The nature of this relationship can potentially have far-reaching effects on people’s lives as it can influence the type of public policy agreed at top levels of government. A total of sixteen interviews were carried out for the research, eight with retired Cabinet-level Ministers and eight with retired Secretaries General of Irish government departments.  Anonymity, not just for the participants but also for the government departments in which they had served, was vital to the success of the research.  Also vital was the fact that only retirees were interviewed as this removed the fear for participants that their careers might suffer if they spoke too frankly.  The result is a collection of interviews containing frank and open views on the relationship between Ministers and their officials and on how this relationship influences public policy development.  
 


Reviews

“The book provides a good overview of the subject matter as well as some new qualitative analysis of the theories in an Irish context. It makes good reading for any student of public administration and generalists alike. This is partly due to the range of theories and examples covered and partly due to the clarity in which it is presented.” (Stephen Beamish, Administration, Vol. 66 (4), 2018)​

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Galway, Ireland

    Aodhán Mac Cormaic

About the author

Aodhán Mac Cormaic was born in Dublin and is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK, and Dublin City University, Ireland. He was awarded a Doctorate in Governance by Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 2015.  He has worked for almost 30 years in the Irish civil service, for most of that time in the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. 
 
Aodhán has worked closely with numerous Government Ministers, including Éamon Ó Cuív and Síle De Valera, both grandchildren of Éamon De Valera.  He also worked for a time with President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, during his term as Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht.

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