AGENCY TERMINATION IN IRELAND: CULLS AND BONFIRES, OR LIFE AFTER DEATH?

Abstract

The termination of state agencies has been a prominent aspect of administrative ‘rationalization’ programmes arising from the Global Financial Crisis. In this article, the frequency and type of agency terminations that have occurred in Ireland post‐2008 are examined in longitudinal perspective. Following a consideration of agency types, the logic of agency rationalization is explored with a focus on the different ways in which agencies are terminated. Drawing on a unique dataset of Irish state agencies over a 90‐year period, the article presents evidence concerning the degree to which terminations over the 2008–11 period differ, if at all, from those that have occurred previously. In concluding, the article proposes that rather than witnessing agency ‘culls’ and ‘bonfires’, there is ‘life after death’ for agencies and their work.