Jane O'Mahony

Ireland and the European Union

This study of Irelands EU experience provides a rich account of Irelands membership of the EU and the impact of the EU on the institutions, policy and economy of Ireland. For many, the Irish experience provides a model of the potential rewards of European integration. But just how far are the changes in Irish society the result of EU membership? What difference has the EU made to Ireland?

Ireland's EU Referendum Experience

Abstract The purpose of this article is twofold. First, it surveys Irelands European Union referendum experience, tracing the key actors, issues and political dynamics of seven European referendums from 1973 to 2008. It unpicks the institutional rules of the referendum game in Ireland stemming from the McKenna and Coughlan judgements, the operation of the Referendum Commission and the effect of this institutional environment on referendum campaigns and outcomes. Second, building on a framework originally developed by Darcy and Laver (1990), this article investigates the emergence of a dynamic in Irish referendums on EU treaties with two key elements: elite withdrawal and populist capture.

‘Bringing Politics Back In’. Domestic Conflict and the Negotiated Implementation of EU Nature Conservation Legislation in Ireland

Abstract Why do some member states fail to comply with European Union (EU) environmental legislation? By focusing on the institutional factors relating to EU compliance, scholars have shown that a misfit between national administrative, legal and policy systems, traditions and practices can impede member state adoption of EU legislation. However, the concept of misfit on its own is not sufficient in order to explain delayed compliance. Actor-oriented perspectives have developed arguments about the crucial role domestic actors, and in particular veto-players, play in the implementation of EU directives. On occasion, misfit between the ‘national’ and the ‘European’ can seriously affect the interests of key domestic policy actors who have the resources to engage in a process of politicization in order to ensure that the implementation of an EU directive conforms to their preferences. Such politicization can give rise to delayed or even failed implementation if key actors fail to agree. The aim of this article is to focus on one such case of politicized compliance, namely, the implementation of the 1992 EU Habitats Directive in Ireland. As the contested implementation of the directive in Ireland shows, implementation can become politicized as domestic actors react to the institutional, legal and policy implications that emerge as a result of the need to comply with EU legislation. Successful adoption of EU environmental legislation subsequently results from a high degree of political management by EU and domestic policy actors negotiating across the EUs multi-level governance arena.

‘Europeanisation as Implementation’: The Impact of the European Union on Environmental Policy‐making in Ireland

Abstract The fabric of Irish environmental policy has been significantly influenced by EU membership. Can the same be said of the process of environmental policy‐making in Ireland? Europeanisation as a conceptual tool has widely been used to analyse the domestic impact of the EU. This term refers to how the EU influences the policies, politics and polity of each of its constituent states. But Europeanisation is not without its critics. Studies employing the concept have so far been unable to fully uncover the mechanisms through which Europeanisation can occur across these three dimensions. Yet the analysis of EU implementation offers a conceptual way out. This article applies an actor‐centred institutional framework to two instances of EU implementation in Ireland and in so doing explores the impact of the EU on the domestic institutions, structures, processes and actors involved in environmental policy‐making in Ireland.