Role of Interest Groups
Political Institutions and Parties Are Not the
Only Source or Channel of Policy Change
• we have been booking of how political parties in Ireland,
firstly, and then, secondly, political institutions such as
Parliament and the Government seek to shape policy
outcomes to make things happen or to prevent them
happening to gain advantage on to avoid disadvantage
for voters or biases within the generality of voters
• but people and voters do not sit back after they have
voted: the organize, mobilize, make and promote
proposals, apply pressure, advocacy, persuasion - often
they do this through interest groups
Definition of Interest Groups,
Types of Them
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"any group which articulates demands that the political system or
subsystem should make an authoritative allocation."
perhaps "authoritative allocation," too narrow, limited, organized group with
some autonomy from Government, and that tries to influence policy
four strands or types of interest groups
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sectional groups
cause-centred groups
private (often business interests)
policy networks
examples
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Irish Farmers' Association, Irish Congress of Trade Unions
Health Service Action Group, Concern, Society for the Protection of the Unborn
Child, Divorce Action Group
– Denis O'Brien (telecommunications magnate); Owen O'Callaghan (property
developer)
– the foreign aid community, the Irish Language Movement and related State
bodies, the farming lobby ad Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Interest Groups and the Political
Parties
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Ireland far from unique: throughout Western
democracies interest groups play a major role, have
regularized, continuous action to government
• central object of Western democracy has been
integration of interest groups into policy process, so
much so that often the interrelationship between such
groups and government can be depending on the
specific policy area - more important in shaping policy
than who wins a general election e.g. farm policy, foreign
aid targets
Scale of Interest Groups in
Ireland
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- Sectional groups
~ 23 agricultural organizations; biggest is Irish Farmers' Association, 85 000 members, organized in 940 branches
country wide, 3000 elected voluntary offices, 60 staff at international, national and regional level; office in Brussels
- where the main action is - close links with parties but very ready to use militant, pressure tactics; linked to
European level body (COPA)
~ 57/64 trade unions affiliated to Irish Congress of Trade Unions; 540 000 members in affiliated unions;
represented on state industrial relations institutions (Labour Court, Labour Relations Commission, Employment
Tribunal, etc.); represented on many Government advisory bodies; has organized direct action in the past; apart
from strikes called by affiliates; can authorize all out pickets; affiliated to European Labour Confederation (ETUC)
~ Irish Business and Employers' Confederation has about 7 000 companies and organizations affiliated, embraces
within it about 70 separate sector organizations; has Brussels office; affiliated to European-level body; also
nominates representatives to industrial relations bodies and many other advisors or regulatory bodies (i.e. Health
and Safety Authority)
~ at least 270 other trade and professional bodies, Chambers of Commerce, etc.
~ numerous police, army, civil service, teaching, etc. representative bodies
- cause-centred groups
~ at least 80 arts organizations
~ at least 72 health organizations
~ 29 women's interest groups
~ 49 youth organizations
~ 25 Irish language organizations
~ numerous sports organizations; some, such as Gaelic Athletic Association, quite powerful
~ 10 or more significant religious denominations; not least Roman Catholic Church but Islam now third largest
~ overall, membership of voluntary organizations is low by Western European standards: the corollary - and the
fact - is that many lobby bodies have sparse memberships
Social Partnership in Ireland -1
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- what it is: a consensual approach to income determination and wider economic and social policy
shaping, bringing together the Government and the major sectional representative pillars of
society to agree a common analysis of issues and a shared strategy to deal with them, grounded
in a problem-solving approach
- had roots in strong tradition of tripartite approach in the 1960s and 1970s, to pay determination
and economic development and preparation for EU membership, with National Industrial
Economic Council set up in 1963 and succeeded in 1973 by National Economic and Social
Council, still today the engine of social partnership
- considerable economic success in 1960s and 1970s but major difficulties arose at the end of the
1970s; national approach to pay determination abandoned in 1980; that decade a grim one with
high unemployment and inflation, renewed emigration, poor growth, severe Government cutbacks
and deepening atmosphere of despair
- but during this period, social partners through NESC agreed to a strategy to overcome Ireland's
economic difficulties. Its 1986 report, 'Strategy for Development,' formed basis on which, in 1987,
the new Fianna Fail Government and social partners negotiated the Programme for National
Recovery (PNR)
- PNR different from 1970s agreements in that it covered not just pay settlements but agreements
on a wide range of economic and social policies, such as tax reform and the evolution of welfare
payments; thus the Government compromised and shared with partners its sovereign executive
authority and parliament scarcely figured
- this, the first of 7 such agreements, have now given Ireland over 21 years of this type of
negotiated economic and social governance; of course, many elements in agreements have to be
approved by the full Government and, less so, but still many, by Parliament, but that is now where
the action is, rather, each agreement preceded by a new NESC report, which sets out a shared
analysis of economic and social trends and the parameters within which the next upcoming
programme should be negotiated
Social Partnership in Ireland-2
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- cannot here go into all the successive programmes, then emphases and directions, but some
examples:
~ 1991-93: programme backed adherence to European Exchange Rate Mechanism, transition to
Economic and Monetary Union and sustained reduction of the debt:GNP ratio; also initiated a new area
based approach to long term unemployment
~ 1997-00: agreement included an action programme for social inclusion, including a National AntiPoverty Strategy, expansion of targeted employment, measuring further measures to address
educational advantage
~ 2003-05: agreement focussed on ten Special Initiatives including on child care, the cost of insurance,
migration and interculturalism - reflecting the processes' capacity to adapt and respond to new
challenges
- some important institutional developments
~ from the negotiations on the 1997-00 agreement onwards on a Fourth Pillar, the Community and
Voluntary Pillar, was brought into the process membership in the NESC participation in the negotiation
and, later, in the monitoring bodies. This pillar embraced representative bodies for the unemployed
women, youth, religious congregations, charities and community groups
~ from the first agreement, successive monitoring mechanisms were established, centred in the
Department of the Taoiseach, which is - to a significant degree - the guardian of the social partnership
process; the Department's Secretary general chairs both the NESC and the agreement negotiations
~ from 1997, a body, now called the National Centre for Partnership and Performance, was set up by
Government to promote and monitor partnership at enterprise and organizational levels
- Pay/tax trade off an important element for several years from the 1997-00 agreement; trading pay
moderation by trade union for income tax cuts by Government, as virtuous circle developed: expenditure
restraint -- reducing debt -- saving on interest payments -- scope for tax cuts -- moderate pay increases -lower inflation -- less need for high pay rise next time
- social partnership was central to the success of the Irish economy over the past 20 years
- we have had quite a few discussions with Government and social partners in Newfoundland and
Labrador about its further development there, where they call their less well developed process
Some Problems and Issues With
and Around Social Partnership
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- during currency of 2000-03 agreement, a sharp rise in inflation in 2000 led to a renegotiating upwards of the pay
terms, which had already been generous - but this was necessary to head off strains and possible strikes in some
economic sectors
- social pillar has felt there is a hierarchy of interests and participation, that the trade unions and employers are
pivotal, that their workers get most attention; for 2000-03, social pillar needed a lot of persuasion to participate and
agree. The 6th agreement, for 2003-05, was not accepted by two components of the Community and Voluntary
Pillar - National Women's Council and the Community Platform - an umbrella group of 26 organizations catering
for the least advantaged in society. The other 6 components did ratify - Government excluded the two non-ratifying
components from partnership bodies, such as NESC and NESP
- big problem for trade unions has been non-recognition of trade unions by many U.S. companies in Ireland and by
companies such as Ryanair
- following major immigration from Eastern European member states of the EU since 2004, another major concern
is the non-respect of statutory protection of working conditions and/or undercutting of the trade union-negotiated
rates of pay
~ GAMA case, road workers in a Turkish-owned company not being paid proper rates and suffering extensive
deductions
~ Irish Ferries case, at time of NESC preparation of its 2006 Strategy Report caused major difficulties; held things
up until modus vivendi reached between unions and employees. The later agreement, Towards 2016, provides a
new Office of the Director for Employment Rights Compliance and for a big increase in number of labour
standards inspectors - but will this be effective?
- doubts about how far down the line does the philosophy of social partnerships go - as set out in O'Donnell and
Thomas chapter in Reading List - but it has worked and organizational elites have bought into its problem solving
approach. With globalization, trade union power in any one country is reduced
- some critics say social partnership has operated to sustain inequalities, the outcomes of growth, by sucking
union leaders in and reinforcing their control over ordinary members. Inequalities have secured significant absolute
and percentage increases in take home pay. In a globalized world, outcomes for and influence of trade unions
might be a good deal less without partnerships
Other Pressures/Lobbying by
Sectional Groups
• - trade unions, in areas not covered by partnership
agreements, slowed up break-up of Airports Authority,
blocked deregulation of bus market in Dublin
• - taxi organizations sought to block deregulation of taxi
licensing, but failed
• - Vinters Federation, representing pub-owners:
• ~ got changes in Equal Status Act 2000, re: refusals to
serve travellers
• ~ Intoxicating Liquor Act, 2003 transferred jurisdiction
from Equality Authority to District Court
• ~ failed to get exemption for pubs from smoking ban in
workplace in late 2003
Cause -Centred Groups Seeking
to Influence Policy
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- types of causes
~ services
* local hospital groups, Health Services Action Group
* multi-denominational education, Educate Together
* Irish language medium education; several organizations
- funding of own activities in public interest
~ Irish Cancer Foundation, Irish Heart Foundation, Alzheimer's Society, etc.
- Disadvantage, more generally
~ Simon Community, Focus Ireland (homeless), Pavee Point (travellers), etc.
- disability
- Foreign Aid/funding
~ Concern, Toiaire, GOAL
- Environment/Landscape/Cityscape
~ Greenpeace, An Taisie (Irish National Trust), Birds Ireland
- Women's concerns
~ Cherish, Rape Crisis Centre, AIM [shelter], the Birth Association, Irish Women's Liberation Movement, Irish
Widows' Federation, Irish Country Women's Association
- 'Moral Issues'
~ Divorce Action Group, Rights to Remarry Group, Pro-Life Amendment Campaign, Youth Defence, Society for the
Protection of the Unborn Child
- European Issues
~ Peace and Neutrality Alliance, The People's Movement, Irish Council of the European Movement, Yes to Europe,
Irish Alliance for Europe, EU Reform
Avenues of Pressure, Influenceseeking
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- since 1983, 3 referenda on abortion, 2 on divorce, since 1987, 6 referenda
on European treaties that would impinge on the exclusive powers of Irish
parliament; government or courts, as set out in the Constitution; sometimes
crossover, as on Maastricht
- in some cases, political parties semi-content to stand back and let interest
groups on both sides of the issue battle it out e.g. 1986 divorce campaign
- in earlier times, Catholic lay groups were able to be effective in piling on
pressure on governments/parties e.g. 1983 amendment inserting right to life
of the unborn, or in campaigning against more liberalizing proposals, e.g.
defeat of the 1986 amendment to allow divorce, later groups on other sides
got better organized and this and some hard cases led to people supporting
more liberalizing amendments and rejecting more restrictive ones
- governments need to hold their nerve, in the part could be vulnerable to
pressure on these issues; compare 1981-83 (unborn) to 1991-92
(Maastricht, unborn)
- will deal with referenda on Ireland in EU when we come to that module of
the course
Ministers and Departments,
Policy Networks-1
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- Labour/Trade Union links: give entree to unions on issues important to them, e.g. labour
relations, employment conditions, when Labour Party is in government
- links between Irish Farmers' Association and Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, but also policy network
with Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, COPA (at European level) and allied Member
States, such as France (examples of Nitrates Directive, Rural Environmental Protection Scheme halve rate of inspections)
- Foreign Aid lobby network with Development Aid division of Department of Foreign Affairs; but
don't always get their way and not fully united
- Oireachtas Committees
~ presentations by lobby groups (e.g. Health Services Action Group); aim i to make Government
back benchers worried, get them on your side, have them raise worries with Minister, give
ammunition to opposition Deputies
- mass media
~ local radio
~ phone in programmes on national radio (get around balance rules)
~ local press
~ national press
~ national TV
~ increasingly, internet e.g. campaign re: status of Irish as an official working language of the EU
- election
~ run single issue candidates in elections
* 1989: Tom Foxe, retention of acute services in Roscommon Hospital
Ministers and Departments,
Policy Networks-2
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* 1997: Tom Gildea, retention of TV deflectors in Donegal (cheap, multi- channel TV)
~ target individual TDs on sensitive issues
* Michael Finneran, FF TD in Roscommon, more recently on same hospital issue
- the Courts and Tribunals
~ constitutional cases by individuals with lobby group financing
~ International Courts
* European Court of Justice
* European Court of Human Rights
- individual public servants
~ legitimacy
~ corruptly
~ increasing role of public affairs consultants, ex-journalists, ex-PR people, ex- Party officials, exSpecial Advisers
~ arguments about which avenue is best: Minister or Civil Servant
- direct action
~ traitor blockades, snag-ups
~ taxi snag-ups
~ public marches
~ hunger strikes (Shell to Sea)
Links Between Funding of Political Parties by Private Sources and
Private Access to/Influence On Minister and Policy Outcomes
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- different ways of funding politics
* pros and cons
- risks re: private funding
- scandals and Tribunals in Ireland
* ongoing!
- legislation to regulate and minimize
abuses, Ethics in Public Office Act, 1995
and later legislation
Benefits and Disadvantages of
Interest Group Activities
• see Table (Coakley and Gallagher)