European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s allocation of the democracy, justice and the rule of law portfolio to Michael McGrath shows just how far Ireland’s stock has fallen in Brussels. Forget the soothing diplomatic tones from Dublin – justice is a portfolio nobody wanted.
Justice means guaranteed (and often personalised) conflict with states such as Hungary and Slovakia. Enforcing the EU’s rule of law is not a sideways move for a former minister for finance seeking an economic portfolio.
The reality is that in a decade Ireland has gone from holding agriculture and rural development (a third of the EU budget), to trade (the crown jewel of the EU’s competencies) via financial services (stripped of the important bits) to the thankless task of policing wannabe European dictators under a “democracy shield”.
And while much immediate attention will focus on Fianna Fáil’s continuing naivety on European affairs (voting against von der Leyen’s reappointment) or the Irish Government’s refusal to nominate both a man and woman as requested by Brussels – these are only the latest examples of an Ireland totally out of touch with EU realities.
And those realities are grim for Ireland. Because it’s increasingly hard to refute the prevailing view of Ireland in Brussels. Principally, Ireland as a quasi-corporate tax haven. A freeloader on security and defence. An enforcer of the EU’s digital and data protection laws that has been criticised for dragging its feet. A state that constantly preaches about fiscal discipline, yet simultaneously disregards its own financial rules. A monolingual anglosphere economy that doesn’t even have a co-ordinated strategy to replace its ageing citizens working in the European institutions. The list goes on.
Consider Ireland’s recent doomed attempt to host the new EU Anti-Money Laundering Authority. While the then minister for finance Michael McGrath was making the case for Dublin as the “ideal location” given Ireland’s “good reputation for strong administration and governance and a unique perspective as the significant common-law jurisdiction in the EU” the rest of the EU was chuckling that these were exactly the reasons the AMLA wouldn’t be going anywhere near Ireland. And so it proved: the EU moved briskly to select Frankfurt.
Ireland – bailed out in 2010 owing to its outstanding success as the wild west of banking regulation and still, in 2024, a favoured location for multinationals seeking competitive tax planning – would always be the last place that Paris and Berlin would locate a new EU financial body. Especially the one tasked with maintaining the integrity of the EU’s banking system.
Rather than go big and attempt to constructively fill the void caused by Brexit, Ireland has retreated into its traditional role of harmless humanitarian
This fiasco highlighted more than Dublin’s growing disconnection from Brussels realities. It also emphasised an increasing hubris in Irish public policy, which seems to implicitly view Ireland’s economic model as being superior to those of continental Europe. This view is based on the erroneous belief that Ireland is now one of the richest members of the EU. Ireland’s engagement with Brussels is sprinkled by a “we know best” attitude – last evident in the Celtic Tiger era but probably reignited by Brexit – unbecoming of our history and self-perception.
The truth is that Ireland’s credibility has been in decline for at least two decades in Brussels. Two failed referendums on EU treaties, a reluctance to properly enforce EU data protection rules, a creative approach to taxing US multinationals, a willingness to sacrifice a senior EU trade commissioner (viewed as kamikaze politics in Brussels), and an economic dependency increasingly centred on a very small number of US technology and pharmaceutical multinationals – this is not the track record of a consistent and constructive proponent of further European integration.
Rather, it’s the opportunistic, nonprincipled approach of an island that continues to prioritise its core economic relationships with the United States (corporate tax) and the United Kingdom (Common Travel Area) over wider European objectives. There is no coherent vision for how Dublin wants to shape the future of the EU, no realistic strategy for how Ireland can reconcile its eclectic mix of priorities with a centralising, consolidating European Union underpinned by greater defence spending, looser competition rules and significantly bigger EU-level taxes. Ireland – by now a significant net contributor to the EU budget – still has no clue of the kind of Europe that would best serve its long-term interests. Rather than go big and attempt to constructively fill the void caused by Brexit – becoming the voice for a leaner, meaner, single market-focused EU – Ireland has retreated into its traditional role of harmless humanitarian.
Ireland’s official application for the AMLA portrayed a multicultural, well-educated Ireland replete with the standard photos of Powerscourt Waterfall and the Ha’penny Bridge. It explained helpfully that the “driving force behind our application is to further deepen our commitment to Europe and help to protect and project the values of the union on the global stage”. Alas, two months after losing the competition, the Irish Government received a letter from the European Commission. This letter of formal notice formally began an infringement procedure against Ireland for having incorrectly transposed into Irish law existing EU anti-money laundering directives.
In Brussels, the joke is on us.
Dr Eoin Drea is senior researcher at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies in Brussels, the think tank of the European People’s Party