`Pushing Against an Open Door': Reinforcing the Neo-liberal Policy Paradigm in Ireland and the Impact of EU Intrusion

Neo-liberalism's resilience since the financial crisis has by now become a commonplace observation. In the case of Ireland, however, it might be more apt to speak of not just neo-liberalism's resilience but also its active reinforcement. By re-visiting Hall's (1993) essay on paradigm change and paying particular attention to the adaptive quality of what he calls first and second order paradigm change and by reading his work against more recent scholarship on the relationship between ideas and power, how Ireland's response to its crisis has reinforced its dominant neo-liberal policy paradigm is detailed in this chapter. How neo-liberal ideas, despite provoking controversy, remained powerful in domestic debate in the aftermath of the crisis is demonstrated. Moreover, in this chapter, the argument that by the time financial support was acquired, European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) actors were, for the most part, `pushing against an open door' with Irish political elites in relation to deficit reduction, how to achieve it and its role in economic recovery is given. Focusing on changes to taxation and social protection in particular, an analysis regarding how the reinforcement of the neo-liberal paradigm is evident in efforts made to limit tax increases, whereas more radical retrenchment and reform of social protection is taking place to ensure its closer compatibility with the perceived needs of a globalised neo-liberal economic paradigm is provided.