ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the Irish cutback management response to the financial crisis using a public management lens in order to identify a number of distinctive cutback phases over 2008-15. It analyses the main features of the governments' strategic orientation to fiscal retrenchment and presents the wide range of reforms introduced to work patterns and terms and conditions of public-sector employment. The chapter also presents contextual data concerning the size and cost of the Irish administration, before and during the period of the crisis. It collates, the main findings and suggests lessons from the Irish case of cutback management. In order to explore and understand the strategies adopted during these cutback years, and the factors influencing the choices made, the chapter distinguishes between three phases: emergency responses, strategic cuts, and stabilisation and development. The chapter concludes that the crisis can be viewed as a critical juncture in the state's trajectory of public management reform.
