The success story of the Eurozone crisis? Ireland's austerity measures

Abstract

This paper examines the response of the Irish government to the Eurozone fiscal crisis. This paper discusses the external financial assistance programme sought and implemented, economic recovery to date, and the impacts of austerity in Ireland. As Ireland nears the end of the ‘Programme of Support’ from Europe the contention that Ireland is a success story is explored. The paper reveals the primacy of financial cutbacks in the Irish response and the limited efforts at public management reforms.

Keywords:

• Austerity
• Eurozone
• financial crisis
• Ireland

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the participants at the following seminars for their helpful comments: the New Thinking Research Seminar Series at the University of Edinburgh Business School, Scotland (February 2013), the KEFU Seminar, Lund University, Sweden (March 2013), and the Management Seminar Series, Politecnico di Milano, Italy (April 2013).