Opening the black box of implementing activation in Ireland

This paper focuses on Ireland’s ‘activation turn’ and the roll-out of the Pathways to Work policy, contextualising these reforms within recent international developments in activation. Using a qualitative approach, the study explores the perceptions of a range of key stakeholders – jobseekers, employment guidance practitioners, employment service managers, ancillary services and policymakers – offering some important insights into Ireland’s move towards activation and the implementation of Pathways to Work. Three overarching themes were identified: depersonalisation, the missing ‘how to’ of implementation, and the reform agenda. These findings, although tentative, provide a new understanding of the perceptions of key stakeholders, described as ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’, and their views about both implementation and perceived effectiveness.