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Northern Ireland is shifting from a Province focused on ethnic conflict and community polarisation to an increasingly diverse society. The scope for multiple or intersectional identities, however, is limited in the political sphere. This chapter examines the role that political division and power-sharing have played in the lack of significant progress in mainstreaming responses to new migrants (European migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers), as well as long-established groups (British Asian and Chinese) within social policy in the region, and the political integration of groups outside of the ‘two communities’ in Northern Ireland. The construction of political parties along sectarian lines in Northern Ireland, and a power-sharing system which sees political advantages given to parties which designate as ‘green’ or ‘orange’, validate the fears held by many migrants that they cannot participate in the political process without choosing sides. This compounds the disengagement of minorities in the region and further reduces the accountability of political leaders to them. The social and institutional reinforcement of the two-community narrative inhibits integration and the mainstreaming of minority identity into public policy, which has a deleterious effect on provision of health and social care services, education, employment and social mobility for these groups.

Although not immigrants, the experiences of Travellers – an Irish ethnic minority who have experienced intergenerational racism and discrimination – contextualise the kinds of barrier potentially faced by some immigrants included in this book, particularly in light of the failure of the Irish state to address their experiences as outsiders. A child born to Traveller parents in 2016 is three and a half times less likely to reach their first birthday, and if he or she survives, can expect to live up to fifteen years less than a child born to settled parents. This child ismore likely to develop chronic health conditions, suffer from poor mental health and die by suicide. Health inequalities are indicators of larger social relations that produce asymmetrical differences. They are historically, politically, socially and culturally constructed. In order to understand how Traveller health continues to be phenomenally poorer than that of the settled community, this chapter will examine how mainstream and targeted policies and services have failed to meaningfully address Traveller health inequalities in Ireland. It argues that mainstreaming approaches to health, whereby service providers are ‘oblivious’ to difference, further excludes Travellers from services as they are rendered invisible and their particular needs remain overlooked.

This chapter considers inclusion and exclusion from the perspective of younger immigrants and second-generation members of a long-established religious minority community in the rural West of Ireland. Drawing on the narrative contributions of thirty-three ethnically and culturally diverse Muslim teenagers, it explores the complex dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in school and community settings. The discussion highlights barriers to inclusion faced by Muslim teens while attending school, drawing attention to issues such as dress codes, religious observances and language barriers as being particularly challenging. The discussion also outlines the challenges faced by Muslim teens in negotiating community membership, emphasising intergenerational conflict as an issue affecting daily life. Using a novel categorisation of migrant cohorts, the chapter offers a nuanced analysis which reveals Muslim teens as actively negotiating their positions as ‘insiders’ and/or ‘outsiders’ on an ongoing basis and from a range of available cohort positions. In doing so it highlights the variety of pathways to inclusion employed, as well as the risks of exclusion facing young immigrants.

Chapter 8 concludes that Ireland’s public administration performance in transposition, practical application, enforcement/control and outcomes in the three environmental cases – waste, water and biodiversity have been influenced by the low issue salience of environmental policy objectives, political contestation and historical shortcomings in the capacity of the administrative system to give effect to EU legislation. The nature of EU environmental policy implementation is revisited and explanations provided by the variables – issue salience, goodness of fit, national and local administrative capacity, autonomy of local government, selection of policy instruments and target group behaviour are presented with evidence from the case studies. The cases illustrate substantive learning and many challenges for public administration, which will be heightened by Brexit. The discussion then returns to how implementation is theorised, how we think about what influences its success and failure and how it should be studied.

Chapter 7 highlights the unique features of Ireland’s biodiversity profile and emphasises the importance of its conservation. The discussion explores Ireland’s experience of implementing the birds and habitats directives which form the cornerstone of EU nature policy and its international commitments. Central to their implementation is the creation of a European-wide network of sites for habitats and species called Natura 2000. The chapter illustrates that in Ireland many of these habitats do not reach a favourable status when measured against international and legal obligations to protect biodiversity. Central to explanations of Ireland’s biodiversity conservation approaches is that all stages of implementation of the birds and habitats directives have been subject to high adaptational pressures and conflict between the National Parks and Wildlife Services and stakeholders whose private property can be subject to this legislation. The discussion pays particular attention to the efforts to ban turf cutting on raised boglands in special areas of conservation and the conflict this has sparked.

Chapter 5 discusses the implementation of waste management policy in Ireland. While waste management is a technical area of environmental management, Ireland’s compliance with EU rules has been fraught with political contestation and structural problems. Central to the discussion is the Landfill Directive 1999/31/EC which aims to divert biodegradable waste on a regional basis, and whether Ireland’s implementation of the directive and adherence to the earlier waste framework legislation has been influenced by structural shortcomings in the political-administrative system. In 2005 it was also a focal element of contention in the ECJ judgement against Ireland in Case C-494/01 which referred to Ireland’s failure to adhere to environmental laws and standards as ‘general and persistent in nature’. The case illustrates Ireland’s struggles to respond to environmental management approaches like incineration and increased recycling. Issues addressed in the waste management discussion are the dual roles of local authorities, as both regulators and competitors with the private sector in waste management, and a lingering ambiguity over the right to direct waste.

Chapter 6 discusses the implementation of the water framework directive in Ireland. Water regulation has largely been driven by Europe and is a politicised issue, given the controversies over water contamination in both rural and urban areas and disagreement over whether the public should be charged for domestic water consumption. Central to the discussion is the Water Framework Directive (WFD) 2000/60/EC which is the most significant piece of water quality legislation to be developed by the EU. The chapter traces the political administrative system’s efforts to develop a coordinated approach to river basin management planning and the principles of the directive. It is emphasises that public participation is a strong focus of the directive but the public’s main attention is largely on water charge issues rather than conservation issues. Central to the discussion are the reforms of water services and the development of a new state agency, Irish Water, and a new regulatory infrastructure.

Chapter 3 focuses on the advancement of EU environmental policy, which is regarded as one of the most developed, regulatory dense areas of EU policy making, and a most likely case for Europeanisation. The chapter commences with a commentary on international and EU developments in environmental regulation which have, over time, become intertwined with an agenda of sustainable development and seven environmental action plans. An analysis of the features and principles of the EU environmental policy process is examined, including the shift from from a ‘command and control’ system to interventionist approaches increasingly linked with new forms of governance and instruments such as the ‘polluter pays principle’. These initiatives are linked to recognition of the extent of the implementation challenge. In order to provide a context for the empirical cases investigated in later chapters, the environmental, social and economic problems of three major environmental areas – waste management, water and biodiversity – are considered concurrently with an overview of EU policy responses.

The introductory chapter sets the context for the book and highlights the importance of effective implementation for the success of environmental policy in Ireland and the European Union. It explains that the institutional architecture of the EU denotes a separation between policy making and implementation activities whereby the European Commission proposes policy but Ireland and other member states are primarily responsible for ensuring its compliance. The chapter presents an overview of Ireland’s environmental performance which demonstrates how the EU has shaped the content of domestic environmental policy, but that its transposition, application and enforcement may be problematic and lead to cases being taken to the Court of Justice of the European Union. It discusses why the implementation stage is viewed as the ‘Achilles’ heel’ of the policy process and explores reasons for implementation deficits. By introducing Ireland’s environmental record and features of the complexity and challenges of EU environmental policy implementation, the chapter sets the scene for the theoretical and empirical discussions in later chapters.

Chapter 4 presents an overview of the institutional architecture and discourse on environmental affairs in Ireland. It outlines the role of actors and institutions, such as the government departments, Environmental Protection Agency and local government, which participate (‘upstream’) with EU environmental policy making and those which grapple (‘downstream’) with implementation. In order to contextualise the explanations of how environmental policy has evolved several landmark events in its development are explored. Central to the discussion is how Ireland engages with EU environmental policy making and what conditions arise to facilitate or obstruct implementation. The chapter investigates the Irish system’s efforts to emphasise clear provisions for transposition and administrative interpretation, in conjunction with efforts to streamline, provide opportunities for consultation and resource the political-administrative system. The chapter unpacks key variables for understanding the implementation of EU environmental policy in Ireland – salience of the environmental issue, goodness of fit, political-administrative culture, weak autonomy of local government, behaviour of target groups and capacity.