Mobilizing Against Europe? Anti-Austerity Euroscepticism and the Case of Ireland

In this paper, we examine how the centralization of economic and financial supervision in response to the Eurocrisis led to civil society-based Eurosceptic protest movement mobilization in Ireland. These movements emerged not to contest the EU per se, but rather to contest specific economic policies that were related to the EU-led ‘austerity’ program to bailout the bankrupt Irish State in the late 2000s. Despite the depth of the crisis, these movements sought not to advocate for Irish withdrawal from the EU but for an alternative form of European integration based on more democratic control of EU institutions and a more expansionist monetary and fiscal policy through the ECB and European Commission. Their issue framing of austerity greatly influenced the narrative around the EU debate in Ireland, with Eurosceptic political parties following their strategy for contesting austerity.