ABSTRACT
Ireland was for a very long time an anomaly; a stable democracy in North-West Europe with an economy more akin to a developing country. From the mid-1990s, however, Ireland underwent unprecedented growth, becoming one of the wealthiest countries in Europe. The ability of the state to attract talented individuals to work for it may have changed as economic growth caused the labor market to tighten when opportunities in the private sector arose. By early 2009, however, the Irish economy had encountered significant difficulties and rising unemployment and substantially decreasing taxation revenues placed enormous burdens on the public purse. In the context of pension levies specific to public sector workers in an effort to balance the public finances, the rewards to senior civil servants and politicians became highly politicized.
