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The legacy of 'cash for ash' in Northern Ireland: instrumental, cultural, and myth perspectives
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DOI：10.1080/09540962.2026.2628844.png)
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Abstract
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This article examines the progress made in reforming the Northern Ireland Civil Service in the wake of the Renewable Heat Incentive scandal and resulting inquiry. It uses Northern Ireland Audit Office reports to understand which areas of reform have witnessed the fastest change and the reasons why others have taken longer to meet their requirements. Then, adopting an organizational theory approach, we use instrumental, cultural, and myth perspectives to situate this research within the wider context of public administration reform and acknowledge the unique challenges that affect administrative reform practices in a consociational context. The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scandal exposed critical failures in Northern Ireland's civil service, with three key lessons for practitioners. First, capacity matters-complex public policies require matching technical skills and staffing; generalist staff cannot oversee specialized schemes and inadequate personnel cause failure regardless of policy design. Second, culture trumps rules-formal reforms fail without addressing the underlying norms in a bureaucratic system. Third, implementation context is essential: administrative effectiveness depends on both the institutional setting (political co-operation, clarity of purpose) and organizational design (competencies, resources). The RHI scandal reminds practitioners that governance failures stem from capacity, culture and context, rather than corruption. Sustainable reform requires ongoing leadership attention, honest assessment of what is achievable, and an explicit focus on implementation arrangements.
Keywords:
Administrative culture
civil service reform
consociationalism
organizational theory
policy implementation
power-sharing
Renewable Heat Incentive scandal
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