Reverberations of a Crisis: The Practical and Ideological Reworkings of Irish State Heritage Work in Economic Crisis and Austerity

Abstract

In 2008 the Republic of Ireland entered an economic crisis as part of the global economic crisis. It was met with austerity measures, and Ireland has since experienced large cuts in state spending on health, education, and heritage. Across Europe, the effects of the crisis on heritage have mostly been highlighted in general or supposed terms rather than empirically analyzed. Based on interviews with state and non-state actors in the heritage sector, this paper investigates the effects of the economic crisis and austerity within Irish official heritage management. The crisis has brought changes to the ways heritage is conceptualised and dealt with from a state perspective. These changes are important to track because one key part of the continuous process of production of heritage and its values in society is the ways state heritage management frames and works with heritage. The analysis focuses on four implications: budget cuts; how the crisis creates uncertainty, pauses, and short-termism; an increasing instrumentalization of heritage; and an increasing involvement and dependency on non-state actors. Economical logics, expertise, legal liabilities, short-term emergency responses, and skills in making persuasive arguments grow in importance, while long-term strategies and projects that may not lead to measurable revenues in terms of tourism or employment get put aside. The study opens up critical questions of (in)equality and changing influences within heritage management, of what and who is, should, and can be included in and supported by state heritage management, and by which logic.

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