The Marketisation of Welfare-To-Work in Ireland
Governing Activation at the Street-Level
By Michael McGann
Published
Mar 20, 2023Page count
190 pagesISBN
978-1447367055Dimensions
203 x 127 mmImprint
Policy PressPublished
Mar 20, 2023Page count
190 pagesISBN
978-1447367079Dimensions
203 x 127 mmImprint
Policy Press
The Marketisation of Welfare-To-Work in Ireland
EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence
This book assesses how the practice of contracting-out public employment services via competitive tendering and Payment-by-Results is transforming welfare-to-work in Ireland.
It offers Ireland’s introduction of a welfare-to-work market as a case study that speaks to wider international debates in social and public policy about the role of market governance in intensifying the turn towards more regulatory and conditional welfare models on the ground.
It draws on unprecedented access to, and extensive survey and interview research with, frontline employment services staff, combined with in-depth interviews with policy officials, organisational managers and jobseekers participating in activation.
“Michael McGann’s groundbreaking research offers critical and compelling insight into Ireland’s activation turn. It is equally salient and illuminating for advancing scholarship on the marketisation of public employment services at street level as ‘double activation’.” Fiona Dukelow, University College Cork
“McGann’s work is impressive both for the breadth and depth of scholarship and for the unique insights offered. Essential reading.” Joe Whelan, Trinity College, The University of Dublin
Michael McGann is Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Melbourne, Australia.
1. Introduction
2. Welfare Reform in Post-Crisis Ireland
3. Exploring Double Activation
4. Workfare Meets Marketisation
5. Remodelling Agency at the Street-Level
6. Conclusion
