This chapter provides an analysis of some of Ireland’s key public health policy documents since 1994 in the context of advanced liberal government. The analysis reveals how Irish public health strategies increasingly target the individual in terms of responsibilising behaviours, inculcating them to make healthy lifestyle choices and mitigate against health risks. Scrutinising the claims and arguments set out in three health documents-Shaping a healthier future (Department of Health, 1994), Quality and fairness – A health service for you(Department of Health and Children, 2001), and Healthy Ireland (Department of Health, 2013)-they note the increasing shift to a market-based model of healthcare, and of the role of the state as one amongst many actors in the health policy arena. Health policymaking, as they argue, has become an increasingly technocratic process, and their analysis raises significant questions about the implications of neoliberal modes of government in the context of the three documents’ acknowledgement of persistent health inequalities in the State.
OBSOLETE: The Role of the State in Public Health Policy
