Niamh Hardiman teaches in the School of Politics and International Relations at University College Dublin.

1. Introduction: profiling Irish governance - Niamh Hardiman
2. Governance and accountability: the limits of new institutional remedies - Muiris MacCarthaigh
3. Adaptive governance: the art of party politics - Seán McGraw
4. Regulatory governance - Jonathan Westrup
5. Governing the Irish economy: a triple crisis - Sebastian Dellepiane and Niamh Hardiman
6. Creating two levels of healthcare - Claire Finn and Niamh Hardiman
7. The governance of the environment: handling the waste mountain - Brigid Laffan and Jane O'Mahony
8. Governing the city: institutional innovation and its consequences - Diane Payne and Peter Stafford
9. Exceptional or local? The governance of crime and security - Aogán Mulcahy
10. E-Governance: new technologies, local government and civic participation - Lee Komito
11. Conclusion: changing Irish governance - Niamh Hardiman

Ireland's international reputation has suffered periodic fluctuation, from model case of rapid development, to exemplar of political and economic mismanagement. This book argues that both perspectives overlook more important and persistent features of Irish political life.