<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Amongst his many interests in public administration, the practical and challenging task of implementing and evaluating public service reform has been a consistent feature of the oeuvre of research over Richard Boyle’s career (cf. Boyle, 2004, 2016; Boyle &amp; Joyce, 1988; Boyle &amp; Lemaire, 1999; Boyle &amp; MacCarthaigh, 2011). In this article, the focus is on the role played by the ‘centre’ in public service reform both conceptually and in practice. The article first considers what is meant by the centre in Irish political– administrative life, before reflecting on how we might understand different forms of public sector reform governance and then applying them to the Irish case. The centre-led reforms that occurred between the 1960s up to the late 2000s are reviewed, before more recent efforts from 2011 up to the present are presented. A final section summarises the contribution.</p></abstract>

Amongst his many interests in public administration, the practical and challenging task of implementing and evaluating public service reform has been a consistent feature of the oeuvre of research over Richard Boyle’s career (cf. Boyle, 2004, 2016; Boyle & Joyce, 1988; Boyle & Lemaire, 1999; Boyle & MacCarthaigh, 2011). In this article, the focus is on the role played by the ‘centre’ in public service reform both conceptually and in practice. The article first considers what is meant by the centre in Irish political– administrative life, before reflecting on how we might understand different forms of public sector reform governance and then applying them to the Irish case. The centre-led reforms that occurred between the 1960s up to the late 2000s are reviewed, before more recent efforts from 2011 up to the present are presented. A final section summarises the contribution.

The role of the ‘centre’ in public service reform

Administration

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"The role of the \u2018centre\u2019 in public service reform"}

Amongst his many interests in public administration, the practical and challenging task of implementing and evaluating public service reform has been a...

The role of the ‘centre’ in public service reform

Published Online: Dec 31, 2020

Page range: 27 - 40

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/admin-2020-0022

Keywords
Core executive, Ireland, public sector reform, governance

© 2020 Muiris MacCarthaigh, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The role of the ‘centre’ in public service reform

Published Online: Dec 31, 2020

Page range: 27 - 40

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/admin-2020-0022

KeywordsCore executive, Ireland, public sector reform, governance

© 2020 Muiris MacCarthaigh, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Core executive, Ireland, public sector reform, governance