Participatory governance in Ireland: Institutional innovation and the quest for joined-up thinking

At a time when governments are grappling with increasingly complex problems, state-led participatory processes that facilitate citizen and community voice in decision-making and policymaking have become more common at national, regional and local government levels. In Ireland, citizen participation in government has achieved prominence in the last thirty years with the introduction of social partnership and more recent establishment of multiple and diverse forms of participatory governance, nationally, regionally and locally. This paper offers a critique of the evolution and operation of local participatory governance in Ireland. The paper argues that to be effective, participatory governance requires strong and inclusive participatory processes at all levels of government, a clear ideological and policy basis, a coherent 'joined-up' programme and receptive institutional foundations.