Role of Interest Groups

1
Role of Interest Groups
2
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

3
Definition of Interest Groups, Types of Them

• "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
• sectional groups
• cause-centred groups
• private (often business interests)
• policy networks
• examples
• 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

4
Interest Groups and the Political Parties

• 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

5
Scale of Interest Groups in Ireland

• - 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

6
Social Partnership in Ireland -1

• - 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

7
Social Partnership in Ireland-2

• - 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
  debtGNP 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
  Anti-Poverty 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

8
Some Problems and Issues With and Around Social
Partnership

• - 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

9
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

10
Cause -Centred Groups Seeking to Influence
Policy

• - 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

11
Avenues of Pressure, Influence-seeking

• - 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

12
Ministers and Departments, Policy Networks-1

• - 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

13
Ministers and Departments, Policy Networks-2

• 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, ex-Special 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)

14
Links Between Funding of Political Parties by
Private Sources and Private Access to/Influence
On Minister and Policy Outcomes

• - 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

15
Benefits and Disadvantages of Interest Group
Activities

• see Table (Coakley and Gallagher)