Author: Professor Muiris MacCarthaigh
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Ministerial portfolio changes adding to policy pressures
This blog draws from an article published in 2023 in Irish Political Studies titled ‘Public policy accumulation in Ireland: the changing profile of ministerial departments 1922–2022’.
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Public Policy-making in the Contested Context of Northern Ireland
This blog, by Muiris MacCarthaigh and Ka Ka Katie Tsang, is part of an IPPO series looking at how policymaking across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland has been shaped by devolution since 1999.
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Centenary of Dublin Castle handover a chance to take stock of Irish state development
Professor Muiris MacCarthaigh takes a look at a century of bureaucratic development since the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922.
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A ‘super-wicked’ policy problem: the cross-border challenges of responding to COVID-19
Dr Muiris MacCarthaigh, Northern Ireland project lead for the recently-formed International Public Policy Observatory, looks at why taking a trans-national approach to pandemic responses has proved so difficult – for the island of Ireland as elsewhere.
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Public believe banks have yet to atone for the past
Public attitudes to the banking sector in Ireland since 2008 reflect very high levels of distrust and cynicism. Dr Muiris MacCarthaigh explores attitudes towards apologies from the banking sector
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Ten Years on from the Banking Crisis – The consequences are still deeply felt across Ireland
Dr Muiris MacCarthaigh looks at the fall-out of the banking crisis in Ireland over the past ten years in light of the launch of the research report ‘Apologies, Abuses and the Past: The Irish Banking Crisis.
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Understanding how austerity makes public sector organisations collaborate
Although collaboration between public sector organisations is often understood as a response to cross-cutting policy needs that cannot be met individually, collaboration can also reduce costs say Muiris MacCarthaigh, Thomas Elston, and Koen Verhoest.
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Budget 2018 looms large, but Irish government still shadowed by crisis
In the run-up to the launch of his new book “Public Sector Reform in Ireland: Countering Crisis”, Dr Muiris MacCarthaigh looks ahead to the imminent October budget in the Republic of Ireland.
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Five risks to cost-saving when using shared services
When separate organisations merge their back office functions through shared services it can deliver efficiencies, but it can carry hidden costs too write Dr Muiris MacCarthaigh and Dr Thomas Elston.
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Swapping Sides: Role reversal for parliaments in Dublin and Belfast
Following a year of elections on both sides of the border, Dr Muiris MacCarthaigh looks at how the results of the elections have brought about not just a change of personnel in the respective parliaments but also a structural change in how they will operate.

