Irish Associations and Lobbying on EU Legislation: Resources, Access Points, and Strategies

This research note summarises the findings from a survey that asked Irish associations about their lobbying activity with respect to European Union legislation. The authors received 164 responses after having contacted 401 associations. The resulting data show that Irish associations engage in substantial legislative lobbying, also at the EU level. In fact, Irish associations have surprisingly good access to even the highest political levels in Ireland and the EU. Especially the associations active in policy fields with strong EU competences focus their lobbying activity on EU legislation. The resulting lobbying is characterised mainly by inside tactics, although there is variation across types of associations, with non-governmental organisations engaging in more outside lobbying than business or professional associations.