ABSTRACT
In Ireland, quality public services have a vital role to play in creating and sustaining the necessary environment for economic growth and social progress. This chapter examines efforts that are being made at both national and local government levels in Ireland to improve the quality of services delivered to the citizen. One of the most distinctive features of the Irish national policy context within which the drive for quality public services has been taken forward relates to the development over the past 20 years of a social partnership model. The Irish public service has been engaged upon a major modernisation programme covering the area of Quality Customer Service, and new accountability arrangements for public service bodies, improved human resource and financial management, as well as information technology. The development and articulation of an appropriate policy framework at national level has served to both support and encourage individual public service organisations in their drive to improve the quality of services delivered.
