The implementation of environmental policy in Ireland

Lessons from translating EU directives into action

Bernadette Connaughton

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781526127570
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Política y relaciones internacionales
• Subtopic: Política

This book explores the response of Ireland's political-administrative system to the implementation of environmental directives in the cases of waste management, water reform and biodiversity. Ireland represents the implementation challenges of a small EU member state with a weak background in environmental governance, and has struggled to adapt to the complexities of enforcing environmental rules. Using a theoretical framework inspired by traditional implementation analysis and insights from the Europeanisation literature, the book traces the implementation process in three directives. The main conclusion of this study is that Ireland's implementation performance in waste management, water and nature conservation is influenced by the low issue salience of environmental policy and the need to overcome structural problems in the public administration system to give effect to EU legislation.

1
Environmental policy making and the implementation challenge

Community environmental legislation will only be effective if it is fully implemented and enforced by Member States. (Statement of the European Council EC 6–1990, 18–21 note 4)

Introduction

Environmental protection is inherently a cross-border issue which creates opportunities for transnational regulation. Since the 1970s, the EU has developed a corpus of law which makes up the environmental acquis and extends to a wealth of areas such as air, nature, noise, water and waste. This is complemented by advancing policy in cross-cutting issues such as environmental impact assessment, access to information, public participation and liability for environmental damage. The expansion of the EU environmental policy illustrates the efforts made to contain environmental challenges by encouraging the convergence and strengthening of national regulation among member states, more so than the creation of distinct European policy processes and institutions.

As well as having transnational impact, the EU environmental policy has consequences for each level of government in Europe – national, regional and local – through its implementation. In theory the institutional architecture of the EU implies a very clear-cut separation between policy making and implementation activities whereby member states are primarily responsible for ensuring the translation and effective compliance with directives. In practice the interrelationships and interactions that arise in a system of multi-level governance presents a multifaceted implementation reality. This study investigates that reality by exploring Ireland's experience of implementing EU environmental policy through three case studies – habitats, water and waste. It argues that Ireland's implementation record in EU environmental policy is significantly influenced by the low issue salience of environmental policy, a range of structural shortcomings in the public administration system and a very steep learning curve. This chapter introduces the broader context of the study by outlining the EU's role as presented in the Treaties and the significance of the European Commission and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the pursuit of effective implementation. It considers explanations for the EU implementation gap and the extent to which it is regarded as a persistent problem. This is followed by a discussion of Ireland's environmental performance, which sets the scene for the theoretical and empirical discussions presented in later chapters.

Environmental policy and implementation

By their nature environmental problems dictate that implementation is unlikely to be an automatic process (Gollata and Newig, 2017; Knill, 2015; Jordan, 1999). Its complexity is augmented by the requirements for the coordination, planning, resources and support of a wide range of actors in both the public and private sector spheres. The effective implementation of environmental measures is more typically the ‘weak link’ in the regulatory chain since the need for substantial financial and technical resources, organisational problems within administrative structures and various other elements make the implementation of (sometimes unclearly) written provisions difficult at national and local levels. Member states are also unlikely to be neutral arbiters of environmental policy implementation since their responses are strongly influenced by domestic politics, bureaucratic and economic interests. Despite these challenges and conundrums the experience of EU environmental policy indicates that when implemented effectively, environmental legislation yields positive outcomes (Signals, 2016; 2012). Eurobarometer opinion polls on the attitudes of European citizens towards the environment also confirm that for most EU citizens a good quality environment is an important contribution to their quality of life, as are the state of the economy and social conditions (Eurobarometer, 2017).

Despite an affirmation of the benefits of a good environment, the European Environment – State and Outlook series contends that Europe faces considerable environmental challenges due to the degradation of ‘natural capital’ by socio-economic activities and unrelenting global pressures on the environment since the 1990s (EEA, 2015: 9–10). Although the study points to progress in Europe in areas such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing hazardous pollutants, it also highlights difficulties such as a failure to halt biodiversity loss, despite the designation of protected areas across Europe. The 2008 financial crisis and subsequent economic recession did deliver some respite from environmental pressures but when viewed holistically it becomes evident that trends in Europe and globally reveal a number of ‘systemic challenges’ which may be worsened by feedbacks, interdependencies and lock-ins in environmental and socio-economic systems (EEA, 2015: 13). The political and scientific discourse has responded to this with an apparent consensus that ‘business as usual’ isn't an option and perceptions of environmental risks have changed. This is evident in the emphasis on ‘green growth’ in EU plans such as the Europe 2020 Strategy (EC, 2010) which promotes a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy. Also significant are the Seventh EAP (2014) and the circular economy policy framework initiated in 2015. An increased awareness of global and systemic risk indicates that a full adherence to the implementation of the acquis is crucial.

In 2011 the European Commission reported on the costs of not implementing the EU environmental acquis and noted that implementation gaps exist across most environmental sectors and in almost all member states. Their study estimated that the cost of implementation gaps with respect to current legally binding targets could be around €50 billion per year (EC, 2011a: 8–9). It emphasised how non-implemenation is not just harmful to the environment and internal market, but also has significant human health impacts. The evidence that implementing the environmental acquis is a difficult task across the EU is borne out in the high number of open cases in the environmental sector. These findings were reiterated in the 2015 State of the Environment Report (EEA, 2015), the results of a 2015 survey of national environmenal authorities (IMPEL, 2015) and in various communications from the Commission to the Council, including COM (2016) 316 final, on the introduction of regular environmental implementation reviews.

The depiction of the environment is therefore of a complex policy field which presents equally complex implementation challenges. Academic analysis also identifies EU membership as a highly significant factor in explanations for strong domestic policy output (Liefferink et al., 2009: 677). Over time the content of environmental policy in the member states has become increasingly ‘Europeanised’ but a convergence in policy content does not necessarily result in effective compliance. This book employs theoretical perspectives gleaned from both traditional implementation theory and EU implementation studies to understand the implementation process of three environmental directives in Ireland. Implementation is analysed through the application and interpretation of implementation models to explain the interactions of actors, institutions and actions. An understanding of implementation processes, rather than policy content or legislative output, is important as these are critical pathways that determine success or failure. An exploration of how Ireland has adapted to the complexity of EU environmental legislation also contributes to our understanding of the ‘Europeanisation’ of the public policy process in Ireland and the performance of Irish public administration.

Implementation in the European Union

Implementation in the EU refers to ‘putting into effect’ European laws, decisions and policies (Thomann and Sager, 2017; Knill, 2015; 2006a) formulated and agreed during the policy-making process by the European Commission, European Parliament and Council of the European Union.¹ This implies three parts: the first is the transposition of EU legislation into national legislation through the enactment or revision of national legal instruments. The second part requires the adherence and enforcement of such legislation through administrative and practical procedure and considers its effect on the behaviour of the target groups. The third refers to how the legislation/policy influences and forms part of the political, legal and social environment. This is akin to Easton's (1965) systems theory approach which also implies three stages – output, outcome and impact (the latter in terms of effectiveness and problem-solving capacity).

The success of any policy depends on its implementation and it is crucial that EU policy is effective since it makes an important contribution to its legitimacy (Brown, 2016). Establishing whether EU law is actually applied in practice, however, is one of the most challenging tasks in research on European integration since there is no homogenous measure of implementation (Falkner et al., 2005: 33). Implementation itself has become a central political issue in the process of European integration since the early 1980s and the launch of the single market initiative. According to Article 3a of the Treaty of Lisbon the member states, and ultimately national governments, are responsible for implementation by taking ‘any appropriate measure, general or particular, to ensure fulfilment of the obligations arising out of the Treaties or resulting from the acts of the institutions of the Union’. Article 9D, Treaty of Lisbon appoints the Commission as the institution that has to monitor whether the member states perform this role effectively. As there are over 200 pieces of legislation to monitor in 28 member states, this is a major task in the environmental field. Of particular significance is the heterogeneit...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Figures and tables
• Preface and acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Irish terms
• 1 Environmental policy making and the implementation challenge
• 2 Theories and concepts: Implementation, Europeanisation and multi-level governance
• 3 Developments in EU environmental policy
• 4 EU environmental policy and Ireland: Actors, institutional adaptation and implementation
• 5 Case: Waste management
• 6 Case: Water
• 7 Case: Biodiversity
• 8 Are great expectations in Brussels dashed in Dublin?
• Bibliography
• Index