Ireland and European Governance

Abstract

Irish membership of the European Communities in 1973 represented the most significant development in the life of the independent state, and it helped to refashion the economic, political, and social landscape. Membership of the EU brought considerable change to domestic politics, and also to the executive and administration. Adjusting to a dynamic rules-based supranational order required adaptability and pragmatism. This chapter evaluates the impact of ‘Europe’ on Ireland, and the extent to which there are patterns of ‘Europeanization’ in politics and public life as a result of almost five decades of EU membership. It argues that, domestically, Ireland used EU membership as a vehicle for modernization, while externally, the EU provided an increasingly important ‘geopolitical anchor’. And although this Europeanization has been far from uniform, the effect has been a move towards a more self-conscious ‘choice for Europe’. Brexit has confirmed this renewed commitment to European integration.

Understanding the Conflict of Conflicts: Is Left-Right Conflict a Necessary Condition for the Development of New Politics?

“…There was no large, mainstream left-wing party in the Irish party system that could have built a left-wing coalition with anti-austerity or anti-European integration as a key element. After the economic crisis, Brexit elicited significant engagement and broad consensus across parties, and led Sinn Féin, which had opposed every EU Treaty, to downplay its Eurocritical preferences after it campaigned for a Remain vote in the Brexit referendum (Costello, 2021; O’Brennan, 2021: 152).…”