Organising for a Changing Europe? Irish Central Government and the European Union

• Author: Brigid Laffan
• Blue Paper #7 PDF (5.2MB)

Blue Paper Abstract

Organising for a Changing Europe? Irish Central Government and the European Union examines the management of EU policy in Ireland from the perspective of central government. The research was undertaken in response to Ireland’s changing position in the EU and the changing dynamic of public policy making in the European Union. The author uses the lens of co-ordination to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the Irish system. The analysis includes six government departments and the wider mechanisms for managing EU business across the system, including committees, departmental co-ordination units and a Minister for European Affairs. The study includes a brief comparison with the Netherlands and Finland, two member states with much more formalised systems for managing EU business. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations.

About the Author

Brigid Laffan is a Jean Monnet Professor of European Politics and Director of the Dublin European Institute, University College Dublin. She has written extensively on EU matters in the Journal of Common Market Studies and the European Journal of Public Policy Making. Her most recent volume, Europe’s Experimental Union: Re-thinking Integration, published in 1999 by Routledge, was co-authored with Rory O’Donnell, Jean Monnet Professor of European Business, University College Dublin and Michael Smith, Jean Monnet Professor of European Politics, University of Loughborough.

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