MIPEX highlighted main results from Ireland
The MIPEX 2006-2007 assessment found that of the six MIPEX integration policy strands, Ireland’s policies
regarding access to nationality/citizenship are the strongest and ranked fourth in the EU25. Also considered best practice were policies relating to electoral rights and political liberties for political participation and security of employment in the labour market. However, national targets to promote labour market integration were seen as under-developed while Ireland’s long-term residence policies received the worst score of all 28 MIPEX countries (see Niessen et al 2007).
Encompassing MIPEX within an Integration Evaluation Chain
As discussed above, monitoring integration is a challenging exercise. One proposed framework is an
integration evaluation chain (see Section 1.1.2 Monitoring Integration). If we are to relate MIPEX into such
an evaluation chain we can see that as MIPEX measures integration policies it can thus be regarded as fitting within the context of process indicators, measuring progress in the processes associated with integration, as opposed to measuring the results of integration policies. In contrast to MIPEX, in this Monitor the emphasis is on integration outcomes. While policies will obviously have a major impact on those outcomes, it must also be acknowledged that policy indicators may not directly or automatically lead to certain outcomes.
