Ireland's National Forum on Europe: Elite Deliberation Meets Popular Participation

In the wake of the rejection of the Nice Treaty by the electorate in June 2001, the Irish government moved to establish a National Forum on Europe, which was to be the arena for a new socially inclusive and highly visible dialogue on issues arising out of Irish membership of the European Union (EU)....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of European Integration 2004-06, Vol.26 (2), p.171-189
Main Author: O'BRENNAN, JOHN
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Citizen Participation
deliberative democracy
democratic deficit
Discourse
Elites
European integration
European Union
Ireland
Ireland and the EU
Nice Treaty
Political Integration
popular participation
Public Opinion
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Summary:In the wake of the rejection of the Nice Treaty by the electorate in June 2001, the Irish government moved to establish a National Forum on Europe, which was to be the arena for a new socially inclusive and highly visible dialogue on issues arising out of Irish membership of the European Union (EU). The Forum represented an entirely novel approach to consideration of European affairs in Ireland and, as such, an acknowledgement that the old era of 'permissive consensus' on EU issues had gone. This article utilises insights from deliberative democracy to analyse the new Irish discourse on Europe that the Forum has helped articulate. The analysis suggests that the Forum has successfully widened the scope and substance of Irish attitudes to Europe. Most importantly, it has helped shift the emphasis from functional cost-benefit considerations related to receipts from the CAP and structural funding, to more broad-based and 'mainstream' consideration, which encompass the broad ambit of issues connected to the future direction of the European integration project. The article also argues that the Forum has engaged a wider and more inclusive group of societal actors in European debate. Thus, Irish EU debate is no longer concentrated among traditional elites - the political parties, trade unions, business groups and academics. Finally, the article assesses the extent to which the Forum has encouraged greater popular participation in EU debate.
ISSN:0703-6337
1477-2280
DOI:10.1080/0703633042000222376