NATIONAL COORDINATION OF EU POLICY IN IRELAND

The objective of this paper is to outline how the Irish Government coordinates its EU policy at domestic level and manages vertical relations between Dublin and Brussels at a political and administrative level. Traditionally three departments have dominated high level coordination, the Taoiseach’s Department (PM department), Foreign Affairs and Finance. The latter department was split between a Finance Department and a Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform in 2011. During the Brexit negotiations, the Irish system ran a ‘whole of government’ campaign to ensure that Brexit did not undermine the Good Friday Agreement. Since Brexit Ireland confronts a challenging set of EU policies relating to fiscal and budgetary policy, immigration, enlargement, defence and security, and foreign policy.