abortion, Ireland, morality policies, political parties, Roman Catholic Church, same-sex marriage
The ‘two worlds of morality policies’ framework suggests that the historical structure of the party system has a major influence on the politics of morality issues. This study uses the case of Ireland to examine this proposition. Ireland is unusual in that it combines the absence of a historical church-state conflict in its party system with a historically strong Roman Catholic Church. It is therefore a ‘critical case’ for the ‘two worlds’ framework, which brings to the fore the interaction of the Church and the party system. It is also a puzzling case in the timing and sequence of its reforms. Focusing on the politics of contraception, abortion, same-sex marriage, and divorce, we show that the Church had no strong secularising opponents (‘enemies’); however, when public attitudes changed and when liberalising interest groups mobilised, nor did the Church have parties who were close allies (‘friends’). Case studies of abortion and same-sex marriage show in greater depth how, in the presence of changing attitudes and mobilisation, the Church lacked a foothold in the party system that would allow it to obstruct reforms. The study’s findings open a conversation between the heretofore separate literatures on morality politics and Church influence.