Cian O'Shea

Cian O'Shea

Teaching Fellow in Economics

Research

You can also find my articles on my Google Scholar profile.

Journal Articles

Does Practice Make Perfect? A Longitudinal Analysis of the Contractual Governance of Ireland’s First Public‐Private Partnership

Published in Public Administration, 2025

This paper examines how contractual governance in a public–private partnership evolved over a 16‐year period. It adopts a novel approach by revisiting an earlier analysis of Ireland ’s first PPP contract for schools infrastructure. We examine contractual governance at two distinct levels: the contract management level (between government and contractor) and the operational level (between school principals and facilities managers). We find that contractual governance between contracting parties has remained transactional but is now characterized by higher levels of trust and cooperation. However, we find that contractual governance has shifted from transactional to relational at the operational level. A number of factors have contributed to the evolution toward increased relational governance. These include the transfer of contract management to a newly established specialized PPP procurement agency, changes in personnel involved in the project, and the adoption of a more devolved approach to facilities management through the introduction of on‐site facilities managers.

Recommended citation: O’Shea, C., Palcic, D. and Reeves, E. (2025) "Does Practice Make Perfect? A Longitudinal Analysis of the Contractual Governance of Ireland ’s First Public‐Private Partnership ", Public Administration, online doi 10.1111/padm.13059.
Download Paper

Using PPP to Procure Social Infrastructure: Lessons From 20 Years of Experience in Ireland

Published in Public Works Management & Policy, 2020

Ireland has almost two decades of experience with using public private partnerships (PPPs) for the procurement of social infrastructure such as schools, courthouses, and health facilities. This article focuses on Ireland’s schools sector where 27 school buildings with an estimated capital value of €500 million have been procured via PPP to date. We review the changes that have occurred to the governance of PPPs and supporting institutional structures, which have evolved considerably over the past 20 years. Evidence of policy learning has led to the development of detailed PPP guidelines and the establishment of a centralized PPP agency with responsibilities that exceed international norms. We highlight how the development of PPP institutions has been an ongoing and gradual process, which will continue to evolve if concerns in relation to accountability and transparency are to be addressed.

Recommended citation: O’Shea, C., Palcic, D. and Reeves, E. (2020) "Using PPP to Procure Social Infrastructure: Lessons From 20 Years of Experience in Ireland ", Public Works Management & Policy, 25(1), pp. 201–213.
Download Paper

Comparing PPP with Traditional Procurement: The Case of Schools Procurement in Ireland

Published in Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, 2019

Advocates of public-private partnerships (PPPs) argue that they can deliver public infrastructure more efficiently than traditional procurement through timelier completion and superior value for money. Despite these claims comparative analysis of the performance of both procurement methods has received scant attention in the PPP literature to date. This paper addresses this issue by providing an in-depth, case-based comparison of PPP versus traditional procurement in the schools sector in Ireland. Through detailed semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and an examination of the available documentation, we assess whether the key objectives of using PPP have been achieved. Overall, we find no evidence that PPP leads to faster delivery of infrastructure when the overall procurement process from contract notice to delivery is accounted for. In addition, we find only limited evidence to suggest that PPP results in better value for money.

Recommended citation: O’Shea, C., Palcic, D. and Reeves, E. (2019) "Comparing PPP with traditional procurement: The case of schools procurement in Ireland ", Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, 90(2), pp. 245–267.
Download Paper

Book Chapters

From the hypothetical to reality: an analysis of ex-ante and ex-post VfM in Irish PPP schools

Published in Assessing the Performance Advantage of Public-Private Partnerships, 2022

We compare the ex-ante and ex-post performance of Irelands first Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for a bundle of schools with a comparable set of traditionally procured (Design & Construct) schools. We find that PPP schools were considerably more expensive to construct; however, they deliver a significantly higher level of service, building maintenance, and quality. In financial terms, our data does not permit an accurate judgment of value-for-money. Although ex-ante estimates indicate that annual operation and maintenance costs are significantly higher in traditionally procured schools, we cannot confirm this using ex-post data. We do, however, gain insights from data on the annual funding of schools. This shows that PPP schools are allocated higher and more reliable annual funding, which confers considerable advantages in terms of resourcing maintenance and ensuring a consistent quality of service. This finding raises a serious policy issue regarding inequities in the funding provided to PPPs versus traditionally procured schools.

Recommended citation: O’Shea, C., Palcic, D. and Reeves, E. (2022) "From the hypothetical to reality: an analysis of ex-ante and ex-post VfM in Irish PPP schools ", in , in Verweij, S., van Meerkerk, I., Casady, C., eds., Assessing the Performance Advantage of Public-Private Partnerships, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 51-74.
Download Paper

Conference/Workshop Presentations