Euro-regionalism and struggles over scales of governance: the politics of Irelandʹs regionalisation approach to Structural Fund allocations 2000–2006

In the context of the publication of Agenda 2000 and the accelerated progress of the Irish economy from 1993, the Republic of Irelandʹs1Hereinafter the terms “Ireland” and “Irish” will be used as a shorthand for the Republic of Ireland. 1 position in relation to Structural Fund transfers generally, and qualification for Objective 1 status specifically, has undergone substantial revision since 1997. Against this backdrop, Ireland lodged a formal application with Eurostat in November 1998 to divide the country into two regions, one which would continue to qualify for Objective 1 funds, the other qualifying only for “Objective 1 in transition” status. This “regionalisation” strategy proved to generate substantial controversy both within and between the European Union (EU), the Irish government, and existing regional and local authorities and development agencies. These controversies were rooted in the need to transform the highly centralist scale division of the Irish state. At one level, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the significance of these conflicts in the light of recent debate in political geography regarding the conditions which serve to ground the EUʹs broader philosophy of a Europe of the Regions in particular ways, in particular places, at particular times. More generally, however, in respect to both its chosen methodology and findings, the paper hopes to contribute to the development of a process based approach to the contemporary (re)scaling of governance.