Updating the files: Understanding the public service through storytelling and narrative

In this article, we reconsider our 2011 book Lord of the files: Working for the government, which was the first of its kind to collect written sources from hundreds of writers inside and outside the public service on the realities and complexities of Irish public service life. Its portrayal of institutional life, state administration and the delivery of public services as they play out within the values expected of public servants aimed to provide a rounded understanding of what is conventionally known as ‘working for the government’.

In the decade or more that has elapsed since publication, the context for public policy and administration in Ireland has significantly changed. We identify what we believe are important narratives arising out of momentous events that have defined recent history and which have affected how the public service carries out its duties. We frame these narratives and bring to the fore our original objectives in the anthology by reflecting on how, in recent academic discourse, storytelling is seen as important to understanding the operation and culture of organisations. We take the opportunity to present and discuss new material, and previously overlooked material, that would earn a place in an updated anthology and maintain our purpose of improving the understanding of the public service.