Can policy learning really improve implementation? Evidence from Irish responses to the Water Framework Directive

This paper examines whether policy learning can improve implementation. Our question is whether such policy learning can plausibly be encouraged from the ‘top down’ and what constraints such a strategy might face. We examine how the relatively weak Irish environmental policy regime has coped with features of the recent Water Framework Directive (2000), that encouraged policy learning. We find these have already produced some policy learning, through greater formal and informal local and national networking. However, signs of policy learning through participation appear weak and too early to discern. Moreover, policy learning through participation appears limited due to the pattern of interest group power. Finally, we see little evidence of change in values, beliefs and preferences, which are confirmed here as slow to change.