ABSTRACT
Ireland joined the European Community in 1973 as part of the first enlargement. Since then its political, administrative and judicial systems have had to adapt to the demands of EC policy-making and the development of the Community. The Irish political system is no longer ‘contained in a container’, to borrow the phrase used by the French economist Perroux. Interaction with Brussels and bilateral contact with partners in other member-states has served to internationalize public policy-making in Ireland. Decision-making in many policy sectors dealing with such diverse issues as the environment, agricultural policy, health and safety in the workplace, technical standards and regional policy, take place within intergovernmental and transgovernmental policy networks that reach from Brussels into subnational government in the member-states. The nature and intensity of interaction, the balance between public and private actors and between national regulation and Union regulation differs from one policy sector to another.
