The Irish public service modernisation programme 1994-2007 : A critique from the perspective of Catholic social teaching

Abstract

This thesis critiques the Irish public service modernisation programme (IPSM) from the perspective of Catholic social teaching (CST). The IPSM is part of an international movement called New Public Management (NPM). Chapter 2 analyses NPM. It concludes that while it may deliver effectiveness and efficiency, there have been some unanticipated side effects. Ethical and trust issues have suffered. NPM has led to an instrumentalist view of the person because its anthropology does not value the dignity of the individual as self-motivated at work, and is uncritical of an inherently competitive framework which cannot conceive of civic participation.