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The future success of the Irish economy is dependent on attracting foreign direct investment, and manufacturing and selling our products on international markets in the face of stiff international competition. While our success to date in attracting and retaining foreign … Continue reading →

One of the accusations often thrown at local government, and not just in Ireland, is that they can be overly focused on traditional services and that there is therefore limited scope for innovation. While it is the case that local … Continue reading →

In some respects the publication of the Public Service Reform Plan has come after a period of substantial effort on the part of local authorities to down size. The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government already had available … Continue reading →

New Zealand with a population of over 4.4 million people provides an interesting comparator to Ireland. Both are small open economies confronting the need to position themselves within a global market to survive. Both have had to address the need … Continue reading →

Local government in the United Kingdom is generally acknowledged as over-centralised, particularly the system in England and Wales. Much of the centralisation stems from the New Public Management reforms of the Thatcher era. This move to direct the English local … Continue reading →

The UK Government, as a part of its move towards what it describes as its “Big Society” has set out a new approach to facilitating local economic growth. It is part of a range of policies to shift power from … Continue reading →

Successive reports on the reform of local government have highlighted the need to re-focus the structures of local authorities to meet the needs of their communities through area-based organisation. As far back as 1991 the Barrington Report identified, among other … Continue reading →

The revised Estimates for Public Services 2011 were published at the end of July. Notwithstanding all the media coverage of Ireland’s economic conditions and the challenges confronting the new Government, it is interesting that few if any have picked up … Continue reading →

The annual conference of the Regional Studies Association (RSA) Irish Branch, recently held in the National University of Ireland Maynooth, highlighted the need for greater joined up thinking on local and regional development in Ireland. Contributors from the OECD identified … Continue reading →

Across most members of the OECD, the reform of local government is a topical issue, particularly given the need to re-balance budgets, address service efficiencies and enhance the quality of public services. In Ireland (population 4.5m approx), much of the … Continue reading →