The Politics of Differentiated Integration: Ireland

The paper investigates two questions regarding the Irish governmental discourse on differentiated integration (DI). First, how much did Irish governments talk about differentiated integration. Second, what positions did Irish governments take on differentiated integration. The report covers the time period 1990-2019. It distinguishes three conceptual levels: DI models (“multi-speed EU” and “multi-end EU”), DI mechanisms (enhanced co-operation and “opt-outs”), and DI instances (twenty-one differentiated EU policies). It finds that DI is a low salience issue, expect in the context of certain key events (i.e. EU treaty change). Moreover, the positions of Irish governments are highly policy- and context dependent. Over time, a principled negative assessment of “enhanced co-operation” has developed towards a more pragmatic approach, allowing other MS to cooperate in policy-fields where Ireland does not seek closer cooperation.