This book identifies
that a key challenge facing Ireland,
perhaps more at this point in its history than ever before, is the promotion
and protection of social equity and social justice. In this vein, it explores whether the Irish
system of public administration is central the realisation of this objective.
In addressing this
topic the book develops a conceptual rationale for a deeper and more explicit
social equity role for public administration in Ireland. This framework draws on existing theoretical
material, primarily from the US and will highlight the vacuum that exists in
Irish (and indeed UK) scholarship on this issue. Alongside this framework a series of local
and national level interviews and case studies provides an examination of the evolution
of public administration in Ireland and, in particular, helps to identify some of
the challenges encountered in efforts to embed a social equity agenda over the
past 20 years. In particular, the issue
of citizen participation is be explored as an area which has generated
considerable rhetoric but which has failed to embed itself at the heart of the
administrative system. The book concludes
by offering concrete directions for enhancing the role of public administration
in promoting social justice, setting a challenging agenda for both for public
administration practice and scholarship.
In doing so, it offers an agenda for the promotion of an expanded social
inclusion agenda that can thrive despite the budgetary constraints that are
likely to face the country for many years to come.