The collapse of the Irish 'Celtic Tiger' economy, in the wake of a banking disaster, provoked a joint EU/IMF rescue plan in late 2010. The election that followed saw Europe's most successful ever party lose more than half of its vote and almost three quarters of its seats. This book provides the definitive analysis of an electoral earthquake.

This book is the definitive analysis of the 2016 Irish general election and is the eighth book in the well-established How Ireland Voted series. The 2011 election in Ireland was characterised as an earthquake, but the aftershocks visible in the 2016 election were equally dramatic. This election saw the rout of the government that had presided over a remarkable economic recovery, and marked a new low for the strength of the traditional party system, as smaller parties and independents attracted almost half of all votes. The first chapter sets the context, and later ones investigate the extent to which the outgoing government fulfilled its 2011 pledges, and how candidates were selected. The success or otherwise of campaign strategies is assessed, the results and the behaviour of voters are analysed, and the aftermath, when it took a record length of time to form a government, is explored. Other chapters examine the consequence of new gender quotas for candidate selection, consider the reasons for the unusual success of independents, and reflect on the implications. The book also reveals intriguing insights into the candidates’ experiences of the election, both successful and unsuccessful. It will be of use to students, teachers and scholars of Irish politics, as well as the wider reader interested in Irish politics and elections.

While the type of small political party In Ireland has varied, their fate, it seems, has not. Although some enjoy a brief time in the sun, termination is the long-term prospects for all minor parties. The usual pattern is a speedy ascent, an impact on the political system including a time in government, followed by a prolonged termination. This book examines this pattern of evolution for minor, or small, parties in Irish politics. As the Irish state has changed, so too have the types of parties that have emerged. With the first-time entry of the Greens into government in 2007, their wipeout in 2011, the termination of the Progressive Democrats in 2009, and the failure of a new party to emerge despite the on-going financial crisis, the time is ripe for this analysis.

This book is the 9th volume in the established How Ireland Voted series and provides the definitive story of Ireland’s mould-breaking 2020 election. For the first time ever, Sinn Féin won the most votes, the previously dominant parties shrank to a fraction of their former strengths, and the government to emerge was a coalition between previously irreconcilable enemies. For these reasons, the election marks the end of an era in Irish politics. This book analyses the course of the campaign, the parties’ gains and losses, and the impact of issues, especially the role of Brexit. Voting behaviour is explored in depth, with examination of the role of issues and discussion of the role of social cleavages such as class, age and education. The process by which the government was put together over a period of nearly five months is traced through in-depth interviews with participants. And six candidates who contested Election 2020 give first-hand reports of their campaigns.

This book provides a thematic case-study analysis of the wide-ranging public sector reforms introduced in one of the states most deeply affected by the global financial crisis: the Republic of Ireland. It presents a timely and apposite examination of how a crisis can be used to overcome barriers and facilitate new reform agendas. The study draws upon unique insider access to the centre of Irish government, as well as interviews with over 60 key figures, to examine the implementation of those reforms over the 2011-16 period. The book opens with a contextual analysis of the creation of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Subsequent chapters explore the process of shrinking the Irish state, renegotiating the political-administrative bargain, expenditure reforms, administrative culture reforms, and political reforms. This rich ‘in action’ study of a reform agenda undertaken during a period of crisis will appeal not only to students of executive politics, cutback management and public sector reform, but also to practitioners seeking to implement administrative reforms.

This book examines Irish voting behaviour in the first decades of this century, with a particular focus on the 2011 election - an election held at a time of deep economic crisis.

This book examines the domestic electoral consequences of the economic and financial crisis in Europe, particularly in those countries where the crisis manifested itself more devastatingly: the Southern European countries of Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, as well as Iceland and Ireland. On the surface, the electoral consequences of the crisis seem largely similar, having resulted, in these countries, in large electoral losses for incumbents, as the most elementary versions of "economic voting" theory would have us expect. However, behind this fundamental similarity, important differences emerge. Whilst in some cases, on the basis of post-election surveys, it is possible to see that the "crisis elections" followed a previous pattern of performance-oriented voters, with no major changes either in known predictors of electoral choices or in basic party system properties, other elections brought the emergence of new parties, new issues and cleavages, altering patterns of political competition. By examining these different outcomes by comparing the "crisis elections" with previous ones, this book takes into account their timing relative to different stages of crisis. It also scrutinises party strategies and campaign dynamics, particularly as governments attempted (and sometimes succeeded) in framing events and proposals so as to apportion responsibility for economic outcomes. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties.