Coping with an EU and Domestic Crisis: Ireland’s Approach to Brexit

ABSTRACT Following the UK decision to leave the EU (European Union), Ireland was confronted with profound political and economic challenges linked to its relationship with both the EU and the UK. With a view to protecting Irish interests, the Irish government pursued determined efforts to ‘seek shelter’ from the EU and to develop a ‘hedging’ strategy. In contrast, Irish national authorities faced a decidedly more difficult challenge in balancing different logics of action vis-à-vis the EU, to which Ireland remains committed, and the UK, which continues to be an economically and politically important neighbour for Ireland. Largely successful EU-focused coping strategies co-existed alongside a less positive effort at maintaining a cordial and constructive British-Irish bilateral relationship. The sum of Ireland’s coping strategies, however, unleashed a series of Europeanisation dynamics which reflect a shift in the nature of Ireland’s traditional relationship with the EU. Brexit has stimulated and motivated a greater propensity to upload Irish preferences, including in relation to the EU’s foreign policy landscape.