The Politics of Regulation in Ireland

There has been a global trend towards greater dependence on regulation in contemporary governance in the period since the 1980s, notably within the member states of the OECD, but also more widely. This chapter examines how these trends have played out in Ireland and examines how we might understand the general trends and also those explanations particular to Ireland. The chapter first addresses the trend towards the establishment of regulatory agencies in Ireland and next considers the more diffuse forms of regulatory governance arising from both international obligations and the deployment of private rules. It concludes with an assessment of how trends in regulation have shaped the oversight of the public sector, both over regulatory activities in particular, and in respect of politics and public services more generally, establishing modes of accountability for public sector activity that are substantially non-parliamentary.