Influencing Political Decision‐Making: Interest Groups and Elections in Independent Ireland

Abstract

A key question in interest group studies is why some interest groups put forward candidates for election rather than simply trying to influence the political process through normal channels. Theoretically interest groups should not seek public office or compete in elections but should rather pursue their goals through frequent interactions with politicians and bureaucrats. The aim of this article is to examine why such interest groups go beyond the informality stage of simply representing their members’ interests by interacting with such politicians and civil servants and instead seek election to public office. As political parties in Ireland now compete on an increasingly narrow issue base, this article argues that interest groups involve themselves in elections precisely because they are better able to influence political decision‐making from inside Dáil Éireann and that election to the Dáil is a sign of their arrival as a serious group with a serious cause. This article categorises these groups into those that run candidates for elected office at both local and national level and those that campaign in specific referendums. It also assesses how such groups in effect move their lobbying activities into parliament as distinct from lobbying outside it as is in the theoretical norm in interest group politics.