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AGENCY TERMINATION IN IRELAND: CULLS AND BONFIRES, OR LIFE AFTER DEATH?
Author(s) -
MACCARTHAIGH MUIRIS
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.313
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-9299
pISSN - 0033-3298
DOI - 10.1111/padm.12093
Subject(s) - rationalization (economics) , agency (philosophy) , irish , perspective (graphical) , political science , public administration , sociology , law , social science , linguistics , philosophy , artificial intelligence , computer science
The termination of state agencies has been a prominent aspect of administrative ‘rationalization’ programmes arising from the Global Financial Crisis. In this article, the frequency and type of agency terminations that have occurred in Ireland post‐2008 are examined in longitudinal perspective. Following a consideration of agency types, the logic of agency rationalization is explored with a focus on the different ways in which agencies are terminated. Drawing on a unique dataset of Irish state agencies over a 90‐year period, the article presents evidence concerning the degree to which terminations over the 2008–11 period differ, if at all, from those that have occurred previously. In concluding, the article proposes that rather than witnessing agency ‘culls’ and ‘bonfires’, there is ‘life after death’ for agencies and their work.