Abstract
This article examines the way the Irish state has pursued its social policy orientations. It discusses the state’s relationship with the two major power blocs which provided legitimation from 1922 until the current economic crisis, the Catholic Church and social partnership, but focuses primarily on the latter. It is argued that social policy played an unfulfilled secondary role in the social partnership relationship, where economic competitiveness was the primary thrust of government policy throughout the partnership era. The article highlights a number of flaws in social partnership which have led to this conclusion. Government is now left without an influential internal partner and must turn to powerful external institutions for its legitimising discourse.