'Pushing against an open door': Reinforcing the neo-liberal policy paradigm in Ireland and the impact of EU intrusion

Abstract

Neo-liberalism's resilience since the financial crisis has by now become a common-place observation. In the case of Ireland, however, it might be more apt to speak not just of neo-liberalism's resilience but its active reinforcement. By re-visiting Hall's essay on paradigm change and paying particular attention to the adaptive quality of what he calls first and second order paradigm change, and by reading his work against more recent scholarship on the relationship between ideas and power, this article details how Ireland's response to its crisis has reinforced its dominant neo-liberal policy paradigm. It demonstrates how neo-liberal ideas, despite provoking controversy, remained powerful in domestic debate in the aftermath of the crisis. Moreover it argues that by the time financial support was acquired, EU and IMF actors were, for the most part, 'pushing against an open door' with Irish political elites in relation to deficit reduction, how to achieve it and its role in economic recovery. Focusing upon changes to taxation and social protection in particular, the article analyses how the reinforcement of the neo-liberal paradigm is evident in efforts made to limit tax increases, whereas more radical retrenchment and reform of social protection is taking place to ensure its closer compatibility with the perceived needs of a globalised neo-liberal economic paradigm.