Cui bono? : the development of the Irish National Quality Standards for Residential Care Standards for Older People

Abstract

Over the last fifteen years, it has become popular for governments to develop regulations through "regulatory negotiation", i.e. with input from key stakeholders of the regulated sector in question. Proponents have argued that regulatory negotiation produces clearer rules and can also help to ensure that the rules are written in the public interest. However, others have expressed scepticism about the purported benefits of the process. Furthermore, few researchers have examined the influence of wider contextual factors on the outcomes of regulatory negotiated processes.