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Labour market dynamics are complex, limiting the capacity for consensus on a singular phenomenon to account for patterns. In this paper, we present a range of broader empirical trends from the Irish labour market that suggests the possible impact of neoliberal-type policies in the Irish market has been counterbalanced by strong human capital and skills development, growth in higher level occupations and employment protection. Though precarious work is a feature of parts of the labour market, the theoretical assumptions underpinning precarious work we argue should not be extrapolated to explain changes in job stability in the labour market at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article Employment stability and decent work published in the Journal of Industrial Relations by Murphy and Turner presents evidence forming the basis of a claim that job instability has not increased in Ireland between 1998 and 2021. This contrasts with a rich literature in industrial relations and the sociology of work and organizations, which documents the fundamental transformation of employment relationships since the 1990s toward greater insecurity. In this response paper, I question the empirical foundations of Murphy and Turner's claims. Analyzing the same data set used in their study, I provide clear evidence that an increase in job instability consistent with the precarious work literature has been hiding in plain sight. I also engage with their efforts at theorizing the nature of the recent transformation of employment relationships in Ireland specifically, and in Liberal Market Economies more broadly. In doing so, I suggest research avenues that go beyond a polarized debate in whether or not job instability has increased in order to contribute to a more complex understanding of contemporary changes in career trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2019, three internal studies were conducted in the Irish Probation Service exploring mental health among persons subject to probation supervision. This paper briefly considers, as context for the studies, the Irish and wider international literature exploring mental health problems among those engaged with probation services and outlines the key findings from the three studies. The studies though limited in scale, scope and methodology were consistent in identifying recurring themes supporting the broader research literature highlighting the prevalence of mental health problems among probation service clients. The paper discusses the key findings and implications for probation policy and practice, and looks to ongoing developments and related new initiatives in the field in Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ireland has become an international exemplar in the use of citizens' assemblies to determine policy. Globally, deliberative fora seek to mitigate concerns of a democratic crisis, but they also may address the 'care crisis', where politics-as-normal seems unable, or unwilling, to address citizens' care needs. Drawing on Tronto's (2013) call for a caring democracy in which citizens take their responsibilities to care with one another, this paper examines the potential for deliberative processes to deliberate 'with' as well as 'about' care and to expand current care work debates. Using Barnes' (2012) 'care full' deliberation as an analytic framework, we document and interrogate the process and outcomes of Ireland's Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality (CAGE) (2020–21), particularly how it understood care work and responded to care workers' needs. We then reflect on the potential for citizen deliberation to realise better caring outcomes for all citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The moral and practical regulation of sexuality and associated risk has been in some ways traditionally bound by Catholic religious doctrine in the Republic of Ireland. Over the last century, however, the emergence of professional social work as a state risk management strategy around sexuality is evident. This tallies with the disrepute of the Church following high-profile abuse scandals and publicized tragedies tied to institutional segregation. This paper presents theoretically informed critical commentary, through uptake of the Foucauldian notion of discourse. It concludes that critique of the regulation of sexuality, should be qualified on three counts. Firstly, tensions between Catholicism and social work remain. Secondly, wariness towards the operation of power is requisite. Thirdly, both that which is said, and unsaid, enlightens present debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 was commenced on 01/01/2019 in Ireland. The Act provides for legal termination of pregnancy under defined circumstances including for any reason at < 12 weeks gestation; and where two doctors agree there is 'a condition affecting the foetus that is likely to lead to the death of the foetus either before, or within 28 days of, birth'. As such, abortion for congenital anomaly (CA) can occur at a number of time points, depending on the adjudged severity. Infants born with CAs frequently require significant medical intervention and account for a high proportion of admissions to paediatric intensive care units (PICUs). The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the number of infants with CAs admitted to an Irish PICU in the period before and after the implementation of the Act. All PICU admissions < 1 month of age to a single Irish paediatric hospital between 2012 and 2021 were analysed. CAs were recorded, and the periods before and after the commencement of the Act compared. We found a difference in admissions involving CAs, particularly those related to congenital heart disease involving single ventricle anatomy. It is plausible that this difference was as a result of improved access to abortion services following the implementation of the Act. This article explores the legal conditions related to the abortion of a foetus with a CA in Ireland, and the possible impact of the Independent Review of the Operation of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As interlocutors in national level discourse with the power to influence public opinion and inform policy, the news media are an important data source in understanding the constitutive roles played by culture and discourse in shaping health experiences and outcomes. This paper reports on a critical discourse analysis of news media coverage of HIV in the Republic of Ireland between 2006 and 2016. This period is significant because of the considerable increase in new HIV diagnoses that occurred in Ireland after the 2008 recession. Analysis of articles (n = 103) demonstrated a pattern of dividing practices whereby people living with or affected by HIV were frequently positioned as somatically and morally deficient via discourses of risk and responsibility. Little focus was given over to examination of the structural drivers of HIV, occluding the social context of the epidemic. The findings suggest that media discourses on HIV have the potential to other people living with HIV and generate stigma by invoking a dynamic of blame and shame frequently implicated in the stigma process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is often assumed that the ideological dominance of neoliberalism has profoundly altered job security and long-term employment relationships. Such claims of a more unstable and insecure jobs market in the twenty-first century are the focus of this paper. Using Labour Force Survey data employment stability in the private sector over more than 20 years in Ireland is examined. As a liberal market economy, Ireland represents a fitting context in which to examine this issue given that it is one of the world's most globalised economies and among the most severely affected by the global financial crisis. Assertions of a more unstable and insecure labour market are not in the main supported by our findings. Reasons suggested for the persistence of a stable employment regime are the continued strategic institutional role of trade unions in influencing regulation, and the interest of employers in retaining skilled employees. However, the emergence of the challenging economic conditions since the pandemic may challenge trade union capacity and employer support for such stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the relationship between the organization of political hunger strikes, rational calculations and actions and emotions. Drawing from the theoretical formulations of Norbert Elias, we examine how rational–emotional balances generated by different and intertwined tiers of social integration partly shaped the organization of political hunger strikes. Political hunger strikes are interesting because they tend to involve actions based on rational considerations and emotional charges. The empirical context includes a comparative analysis across space and time involving the organization of political hunger strikes in Ireland and (West) Germany during the 20th century. Our analysis suggests a difference between the rational–emotional tension balance exhibited by hunger strikers of the 1920s and that of hunger strikers of the 1970s and 1980s. We explain how these differences are connected to the broader social structures pertaining at the time. The main contention of the paper is that all forms of political organizing involve rational–emotional balances, and these balances are structured and shaped by social dynamics at different tiers of social integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how working-class activists challenged and overcame political fear narratives during the anti-water charges campaign in Ireland (2014–2016), with specific focus on the ‘sinister’ narrative, an attempt by the government and its supporters to frame working-class protestors as violent, irrational and extremist. Rather than subscribing to the position that political fear is ubiquitous or the reflection of a general societal malaise, this paper follows Jeffries’ argument that political fear is mediated, contested and contradicted. While political fear operates most effectively when targeting expectations for normal living, it is these same expectations that offer fertile ground for opposing fear threats. Drawing on interviews from activists, this paper shows how the ‘normal living’ becomes a key context in which ‘deviance framing’ around class and gender can be reappropriated/reframed by activists, particularly through the deployment of counter spectacles and through the reframing of what constitutes legitimate emotional responses to government-initiated fear threats. Finally, while political fear can have an individualising effect, this paper demonstrates how subjective and individual acts of transgression are mediated through a collective and community lens as the crucial element in overcoming political fear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the role of imagination in the lives of Nigerian transnational children and their migrant parent in Ireland. Migration of a parent is a rupture in a child's life that triggers imaginary processes that are real in their developmental consequences. Following Zittoun and Gillespie, imagination is a process that generates a disjunction from the person's experience of the "real" world, and uncouples and loops out before it eventually comes back to the actual experience. For the left-behind child, this imaginative loop remains "open" as parents return becomes extended in time. The dilemmas for the migrant parent and child are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This paper presents the key findings from the Northern Ireland Youth Wellbeing Prevalence Survey (NIYWS), specifically the prevalence of common mental health disorders and their association with personal, familial and socio-economic risk factors. Methods: The Northern Ireland Youth Wellbeing Survey (NIYWS) is a large nationally representative household survey of young people aged 2–19 years (N = 3074) and their parents (N = 2816). Data collection was by means of a stratified random probability household survey. Children and young people were eligible to take part if they were aged 2 to 19 and lived in Northern Ireland. Mood and anxiety disorders were measured using the Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS: Chorpita et al., 2000). Results: Based on the cut-off scores for the RCADS 11.5% of the sample met the criteria for any mental health disorder. The most prevalent disorder was panic disorder (6.76%) and the least common was generalised anxiety disorder (2.69%). Poor child health, special educational needs, parental separation, living in a household in receipt of benefits, living in an area of deprivation and living in an urban area were all significant predictors of any mood or anxiety disorder. Conclusions: The results indicate somewhat elevated prevalence rates of mood and anxiety disorders in children and young people in Northern Ireland compared to England and other international countries. These findings can be used to help inform mental health policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deliberative democracy is for many the most significant development in democratic theory in the last 50 years and it has been used in some places to solve real-world policy problems. However, measuring the impact of deliberative methods is not clearly achievable because several independent variables are manipulated simultaneously. One of the main goals of deliberation is opinion change and thus it is important to understand why opinions change. This paper utilises comparison groups in order to isolate the impact of deliberation from information in the deliberative process. We outline the results of a quasi-experiment in which deliberation took place in a citizens' assembly (CA) in Ireland. As part of this we measured the impact using pre- and post-test controls, including a group given the information the CA participants received, but without the deliberation. The results of the analysis provide evidence of a separate deliberation effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the merits of regional and firm based approaches for analysing the effect of agglomeration economies on firm deaths in Ireland. We aggregate a comprehensive data set on Irish firm deaths to Electoral Division (ED) level, the lowest geographical scale available. Estimates of the effect of agglomeration on firm deaths from a regional analysis at ED level using a cross-sectional spatial-autoregressive spatial error model are compared with firm-level estimates from a contemporary log-log model with spatially weighted agglomeration regressors. While estimates of the effects of agglomeration using these alternative methods is much discussed in existing literature rarely are the approaches or results compared. We show that contrasting results are found using the same data set dependent upon the unit of analysis used. Diversity lowers regional and firm deaths while specialisation raises regional deaths but lowers firm deaths. Greater urbanisation does not have a significant effect on firm hazard rates or equivalent regional estimates. While regional estimates provide evidence on the existence and nature of spatial dependence (negative in this case), firm estimates do not provide evidence that agglomeration in neighbouring regions is the source of this spatial dependence. No empirical analysis to our knowledge directly compares regional and firm based approaches for analysing the effect of spatial agglomeration economies on firm deaths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: By applying the savings paradigm to determine the presence of residual Irish language knowledge, this study seeks to investigate the relearning advantage for the acquisition of words likely to have been acquired during the second language acquisition of Irish compared with newly acquired Irish words. Furthermore, self-efficacy will be assessed as a robust self-assessed predictor of performance. Methodology: Using a corpus of Irish language, low- and high-frequency nouns were used to create a list of 'old' and 'new' words. Thirty-six participants were tested over 2 months, across three phases. Each participant was provided with a relearning session before being tested on their individualised list of 40 words. Participants were asked to rate their self-efficacy confidence levels before each testing session. Data and analysis: An online survey platform was used at each phase to test residual knowledge and to gather self-efficacy and attitudinal data. Correlation analyses and independent t-tests were carried out to measure the effect sizes over the 2-month time period of testing. Findings: The data provide evidence that Irish nouns likely to have been previously encountered, but since forgotten, are recalled more efficiently than newly encountered Irish nouns. Furthermore, evidence of cognateness as a retrieval strategy reveals an active Irish language residual knowledge base. Originality: This paper is the first effort in applying the savings paradigm methodology, as demonstrated in de Bot et al., to the Irish language context, and is the first attempt at measuring perceived pre-test Irish language abilities using self-efficacy. Implications: With Irish language as a compulsory school subject in Ireland, and so few daily users of the language, the identification of residual Irish knowledge in a population that has not used the language in decades may encourage reactivation of a language presumed to be forgotten. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how an artwork might play a role in the political, legal and aesthetical 'working-through' of historical injustices. With specific reference to Sarah Browne and Jesse Jones' participatory performance project, The Touching Contract (2016), we consider how traumatic affects from Ireland's past continue to shape the present. Drawing primarily on the work of Jacques Rancière and Bracha L. Ettinger, we argue that The Touching Contract has the capacity to transform participants' relation to legal history in two ways. First, by juxtaposing unspoken histories of female bodily vulnerability in relation to law with legal form during an encounter with participatory performance, this art project generates 'mystery', producing a productive 'interval' (Rancière) between the common sense of legal history and its potential re-calibration. Second, in its production of a relational 'affectosphere' (Kinsella), The Touching Contract provokes participants' capacity to engage with that interval, to be genuinely affected by the transmission of legal history and respond to it in new ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of the auction process of residential properties that whilst unsuccessful at auction sold subsequently. The empirical analysis considers both the probability of sale and the premium of the subsequent sale price over the guide price, reserve and opening bid. The findings highlight that the final achieved sale price is influenced by key price variables revealed both prior to and during the auction itself. Factors such as auction participation, the number of individual bidders and the number of bids are significant in a number of the alternative specifications. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a study of the Irish experience of EU cohesion policy, with a view to exploring what the Irish case can tell us about the conditionality of state’s adaptation to EU policy values and practice. Using Bache’s (2008) framework for the analysis of Europeanization, Multi-Level Governance and Cohesion policy, the paper finds that Europeanization has resulted in a reorientation of domestic policies, practices and preferences in the Irish case, but the consequence has been the creation of Multi-Level Governance Type II not I (Börzel and Risse, 2003). The governance changes that have occurred have been ad hoc and messy, and central government’s response to them has been short-termist and financially expedient. This raises concerns about the sustainability of knowledge transfer impacts from Irish Multi-Level Governance and partnership projects within the formal system of Irish government. More generally, it suggests that if the desired impacts of EU Cohesion policy are to be sustainable in the longer-term, more attention needs to be given to effectively measuring and explaining EU policy influence, so that we might begin to understand how it can be supported and sustained in a variety of state contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A probabilistic method for modelling empirical site-specific wind turbine power curves is proposed in this paper. The method is based on the Gaussian mixture model machine learning algorithm. Unlike standard wind turbine power curve models, it has a user-selectable number (N) and type of input features. The user can thus develop and test models with a combination of measured, derived or predicted input features relevant to wind turbine power-output performance. The proposed modelling approach is independent of the site location where the measurable input features (i.e. wind speed, wind direction, air density) are collected. However, the specific models are location and turbine dependent. An N-feature wind turbine power curve model developed with the proposed method allows us to accurately estimate or forecast the power output of a wind turbine for site-specific field conditions. All model parameters are selected using a k-fold cross-validation method. In this study, five models with different numbers and types of input features are tested for two different wind farms located in Ireland. The power forecast accuracy of the proposed models is compared against each other and with two benchmarks, parametric wind turbine power curve models. The most accurate models for each of the sites are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores select themes relating to legal culture in European criminal justice post-Brexit by focusing on aspects of the common law trial process in the Irish courts. The incorporation of EU law and the ECHR within the domestic legal order has necessitated the nurturing of a constructive co-existence with the country's longer standing constitutional and common law traditions. Ireland and the United Kingdom have collaborated closely as common law Member States and the departure of the UK from the EU will affect Ireland's position in EU criminal justice in many and varied ways. Using the examples of victim participation in criminal trials and pre-trial access of suspects to legal assistance, the paper seeks to illuminate trends of consonance and dissonance in Ireland's relationship with European law. Drawing on the shared commitment to the protection of fundamental rights in the EU and the ECHR, the discussion reflects on some of the longer term implications of Brexit for the common law presence in European criminal legal culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the transformations that have taken place in Irish higher education under neoliberalism and, in particular, during the period of austerity since 2008. We adopt a critical political economic framework conceptualizing Ireland as a prototypical neoliberal state and maintain that the period of economic crisis since 2008 has witnessed a deepening of neoliberalism. We argue that restructuring in the education sector has been shaped by forces originating from the European Union, global institutions, as well as from the interests of Irish political and economic elites. We examine several aspects of the neoliberalization of the education sector, including privatization, commercialization, labor casualization and the erosion of work conditions. Empirically, the paper synthesizes and conceptualizes available data on neoliberalism and higher education in Ireland. Theoretically, it presents a useful framework to investigate similar cases in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All families need both formal and informal supports throughout their life course. Parents relationships with their children need to be promoted, supported and maintained. For parents living with their children and acting as their primary carer this role, although fulfilling, is filled with challenges. At particular points in time and for a variety of reasons parents need to be supported in carrying out this role, striving towards healthy family functioning. For parents where there are additional stressors associated with their relationship with their children. The impact of this can be significant and far reaching for all involved. Incarcerated mothers and their children face particular difficulties in maintaining their relationships and for mothers to ‘perform’ a mothering role. Throughout the stages of childhood, family breakdown and separation from their mother is a traumatic experience for children. This paper considers the current provision within the Irish Prison System for supporting incarcerated mothers in their efforts to maintain relationships with their children and wider family members and highlights the deficits within this. This paper argues the case for reviving the role of supportive social work practitioners to work alongside incarcerated mothers in an effort to retain and realise their parental rights and duties and to maintain relationships with their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ireland is unusual in a succession law context as despite being a common law jurisdiction Irish succession law applies a comprehensive system of forced heirship for spouses under the Succession Act 1965. However, notwithstanding the strengths inherent in such a regime, shortcomings have emerged. This paper considers the position of the surviving spouse who has been disinherited, and the challenges they face in Ireland in the application of the legal right share towards the appropriation of the family home. In light of the difficulties identified, the paper proposes a new and alternative approach based on the provision of a preferential share representing a fixed monetary sum, subject to limitations. The proposal is then tested from both a theoretical and practical perspective. The paper concludes that the implementation of such a proposal, as an alternative to the legal right share, would eradicate one of the most striking weaknesses inherent in the current regime, and should be afforded serious consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses notices related to legal proceedings from across the world. The New Zealand Criminal Justice Act 1985, subsection 138-141, has authorized the court to ban public interference and limit publication of information in criminal cases. The Irish Law Reform Commission has released a publication paper related to the confirmation of electronic and documentary testimony in both civil and criminal proceedings and electronic recording of police interviews introduced in the U.S.

A study of the work of the writer Tim Robinson, this paper also presents a series of wider arguments regarding concepts of landscape, dwelling and writing. English-born, but resident in the far west of Ireland for nearly 40 years, Tim Robinson is the author of a series of increasingly féted books about the Aran Islands and Connemara. Erudite and dense, these texts present the Aran and Connemara landscape to the reader via a heady mix of cultural and natural history, and personal reflection and speculation. Two recurrent questions arguably frame these texts: what does it mean to dwell in a landscape? and What does it mean to write about landscape? In this paper, after contextualizing the writer, Aran and Connemara, I develop a contrast between Robinson’s work and some influential current understandings of landscape and dwelling, in particular the mobile and dynamic notions of dwelling developed by the anthropologist Tim Ingold. The paper then hinges on an examination of a recurrent motif in Robinson’s work – ‘the good step’. In the image of ‘the good step’, I argue, we witness neither a nostalgic romanticism, nor a dynamic identification with landscape, nor more widely a fusion of land and life, but rather a displacement of land and life from each other – a displacement that is originary. The good step, the step that cannot be taken, is thus less the ideal goal, and more the aporetic possibility of writing through landscape per se – a conclusion offered here for both cultural geographers and landscape scholars and writers more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific evidence presents a problem for the courts: the subject-matter is often complex; the experts who present the evidence can be cherry picked and biased; and judges and juries are frequently unsure about how to weigh the evidence once it has been presented. This article diagnoses the problems associated with scientific evidence and then proceeds to consider two possible solutions to those problems: (1) the reliability test solution; and (2) the blind expertise solution. The former is currently favoured by law reform agencies in Ireland and England, but the primary focus of this article is on the latter. It is concluded that the blind expertise solution has considerable attractions and should be seriously considered as a reform option. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of rural Europe has witnessed vast changes over the past two decades, including major demographic and economic change. The question of how these changes have affected individual well-being and quality of life remains largely unanswered. This paper aims to shed light on this topic by employing both qualitative and quantitative research methods in the analysis of rural quality of life in Ireland, including focus groups, locally-specific surveys and two representative surveys of individuals carried out in 2001 and 2007. We use the respondents’ self-reported life satisfaction level as a proxy for their well-being to examine the determinants of quality of life and also examine how attitudes have changed over this period. Results show a consistently high life satisfaction in rural Ireland. The greatest changes are witnessed in attitudes to the provision of facilities and services. Respondents’ perceptions of the benefits and limitations of rural living remain constant between the two periods, focusing on quality of life and environmental issues. However, the main problems of rural living have shifted away from the cost of housing to access to healthcare and public transport. Issues that are found to be important at the local scale include economic indicators (for example, security of income, home ownership), dwelling characteristics, social factors (for example, belonging to the community) and environmental amenities (for example, access to green space, good-quality environment). The importance of these issues is born out by the analysis at the national scale. The paper concludes by exploring the policy implications of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A proof-of-concept study is presented of a Power-to-Gas system that is located fully offshore. This paper analyses how such a system would perform if based at the depleted Kinsale Gas Field in the Celtic Sea Basin off the south coast of Ireland. An offshore wind farm is proposed as the power source for the system. Several conversion technologies are examined in detail in terms of resource efficiency, technological maturity, and platform area footprint, the aim being to ascertain their overall applicability to an offshore Power-to-Gas system. The technologies include proton exchange membrane electrolysers for electrolysis of water to release H2. Bipolar membrane electro-dialysis and electronic cation exchange module processes are also considered for the extraction of CO2 from seawater. These technologies provide the feedstock for the Sabatier process for the production of CH4 from H2 and CO2. Simulations of the end-to-end systems were carried out using Simulink, and it was found that the conversion of offshore wind power to hydrogen or methane is a technically feasible option. Hydrogen production is much closer to market viability than methane production, but production costs are too high and conversion efficiencies too low in both cases with present-day technology to be competitive with current wholesale natural gas prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Insufficient physical activity (PA) is one of the largest public health challenges of our time and requires a multisectoral public-health response. PA recommendations state that all children and adolescents should accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) daily and carry out vigorous PA (VPA) three times weekly. While participation in sports club activities is known to enhance the probability of reaching the recommended overall PA level, less is known about the contribution of sports club participation to VPA, and few cross-national comparisons have been carried out. The purpose of this paper is to study whether participation in sports club activities is associated with meeting the overall PA and VPA recommendations among children and adolescents across six European countries, namely Belgium (Flanders), Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ireland and Sweden. Methods: Analyses were carried out on existing self-reported national data sets using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Results: Results indicate that approximately two-thirds of children and adolescents take part in sports club activities in the given countries. Sports club participants were more likely to meet the overall PA recommendations (OR 2.4–6.4) and VPA recommendation (OR 2.8–5.0) than non-participants. Conclusions: The extent to which overall PA and/or VPA is gained through sports club participation versus other settings needs to be further studied. Nonetheless, it can be argued that sports clubs have an important position in PA promotion for younger populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deploying a lens informed by humanitarian reason and governmentality this article interrogates the normative assumptions underlying resettlement for international protection in the Irish context. Drawing on findings from a qualitative study on the needs of children and parents admitted under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme, it highlights tensions and contradictions underemphasised in the existing literature, including those deriving from assumptions which inversely associate age with integrate-ability. Such assumptions place a heavy burden on the young, perceived to be the most adaptable. The danger pointed to in this article is that those deemed least adaptable - adults with limited prior education - might not be prioritised for supports due to negative assumptions about their prospects. Somewhat paradoxically, the 'most adaptable' – children resettled at primary-school age or younger – might also miss out on supports as they are deemed likely to succeed in any case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the EU, efforts in relation to integration are generally directed towards migrants from outside the EU. However, there is evidence that intra-EU migrants face similar obstacles to integration to those of non-EU citizens. Since Ireland has a large EU migrant population, this paper critically explores EU migrants’ integration in Ireland. Drawing on awider longitudinal study, the paper focuses on the lived experiences of 39 migrants from EU Member States living in Ireland. Focusing on domains of integration, we explore the different pathways by which EU migrants move to Ireland and become part of Irish society. Cultural and social pathways – including language, study, adventure and social relationships – are important as the original motivation for migration. Contrary to popular perception, economic factors such as employment were mostly seen as enabling social and cultural interests. However, economic but also social pathways came to the fore during the recession, when securing one’s livelihood and networks took on a new importance. We show that migrants developed various tactics to intensify their contact with Irish society and to develop feelings of being ‘at home’, despite a deteriorating economic situation. Despite these individual efforts, EU migrants continue to face obstacles to integration in Ireland: obstacles that need to be acknowledged at addressed within Ireland and across the EU more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), linked to administrative data on high-speed broadband availability from infrastructure maps, this study examines patterns of Internet uses and psychosocial outcomes for over 3500 people aged 50 plus across Ireland. High-speed broadband availability is associated with higher reported levels of home Internet access, greater frequency of Internet use and more engagement with Internet activities. Controlling for demographic and socio-economic circumstances, regression models show that quality of life is higher among daily users of the Internet. Little association is found with loneliness. Quality of life is higher among users of Internet-based communication applications such as email and video calls, and there is some evidence that loneliness may be less pronounced among users of these applications. The findings are consistent with the view that digital engagement can enhance the lives of older people and thus may be supportive of policies and interventions to address potential 'grey' digital divides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The objectives of this paper are to analyse the determinants of prostate cancer screening uptake in the Republic of Ireland and to compare the role of non-need factors in uptake of screening among those in and outside the age range recommended as cost-effective for screening according to the European Randomised Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer (ERSPC). Methods: The investigation combined a logistic regression analysis of uptake, with an estimation of incomerelated concentration indices and decomposition of the indices using data collected as part of the Survey of Lifestyle and Nutrition (SLAN) 2007. Comparisons were made across groups differentiated by age in terms of the expected value of the prostate cancer screening. Results: Uptake of prostate screening in men 40 years and over in the preceding 12 months was approximately 24%. Uptake was higher among those in age groups that are perceived to receive most benefit from a Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test based on the findings of the ERSPC trial. Screening is highest in those with highest socioeconomic status and educational attainment, and who also hold private insurance cover. The largest socioeconomic inequality is observed for men over 70 years of age (0.2298). The smallest inequality was observed for those aged 55-69 (0.1573). Decomposition of the concentration indices shows that possession of private insurance is the largest determinant of inequality among those aged 55-69 (36%) and remains a significant determinant for those aged 40-54 (26%) and those aged 70 and over (17%). Conclusions: There are high levels of prostate cancer screening uptake and significant income-related inequality in uptake in the Republic of Ireland. Given that the merits of prostate cancer screening overall and across different age groups are the subject of debate, the high levels of screening and income-related inequalities in uptake warrant closer attention and identification of potential policy responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a large body of literature that discusses the control of settlement patterns using traditional planning instruments. Whilst there is some theoretical literature discussing the use of development charges to influence settlement patterns by addressing market failure, there is limited literature examining how such charging is implemented in practice. This paper presents the theoretical basis for development charging based on the Pigouvian tradition and discusses how these charges can be calibrated. It identifies the potential for second-best approaches, including hypothecation of revenues. This approach is distinguished from infrastructure charging which is a cost-recovery instrument. The Irish system of infrastructure charging is assessed as a means of exploring how current instrument design could be improved to align with policy aspirations using the lessons that theory provides.

In this paper, travel-to-work patterns are analysed for a number of key employment sub-centres in the Dublin region. Geographical information system (GIS) visualisations and regression analysis are used to identify a small number of employment sub-centres using a large sample of travel-to-work data from the 2002 Census of Population modified with travel-specific data by the Dublin Transport Office. The journey to work is then analysed across these employment sub-centres in the context of a travel mode choice model. The estimation results illustrate the varying effects that travel attributes such as travel time and travel cost have on the choice of mode of travel across employment destinations highlighting the role of trip destination as a main driver of travel behaviour in the Dublin region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The symbolic role of women in Irish nationalism has to some extent obscured their practical involvements. By studying some of the most prominent female nationalists, this paper shows how women often read representations of women as icons of nationhood very much against the grain of the passive interpretations favoured by later historians. The paper also shows how heavily contested was the ultimate exclusion of women from public and political spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many countries world-wide are becoming active or interested in software exports. This paper initially analyses the software export experiences of India. Ireland and Israel; the three largest software followers' (those which developed a software industry after the 1970s). It develops a new 'Software Export Success Model' on the basis of that analysis. This model, having been developed as a descriptive /analytical framework, is then applied in a number of ways. First, as a comparative framework, helping to identify current strengths and weaknesses of two 'second-tier' followers - Russia and China - as compared particularly with India. Secondly, as a predictive foundation for understanding likely sectoral trajectories within these second-tier nations. Finally, as a prescriptive foundation from which guidance can be derived on the strategies and interventions that these countries may need to adopt for software export growth. As well as demonstrating the value of this new framework for conceptual analysis, this paper also shows how it can have practical value to policy-makers, industry association representatives, consultants and others involved with software sector strategy. Although beyond the scope of this paper, it appears that the model will also serve as a framework for equivalent analysis and guidance for the many other follower nations who have recently entered into software exports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the embeddedness of multi-national software firms located in the Republic of Ireland. Over the past 15 years, Ireland has emerged as a software center of growing importance. Many leading US companies now use Ireland as a platform from which to service the European market, in turn making Ireland the world's leading software exporter. As a result, the extent to which software multi-nationals become embedded within Ireland will affect future economic development. Although subject to several interpretations, the conceptualization of embeddedness offered in this paper incorporates traditional concerns with local linkages between multinational corporations and host regions as well as issues of growing interest such as affiliate evolution and expansion. In addition, it considers the wider business environment's influence on firm embeddedness. The findings are based on published data and corporate and government interviews conducted during field research in Ireland. The paper finds that over time software multinationals are becoming somewhat more embedded within Ireland, but several issues related to the negative externalities of Dublin's rapid growth potentially hinder future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom have a long, close and difficult history. The most recent phase of which dates from 1998 and the conclusion of the Good Friday Agreement. Since 1921, however, there has been unique practice between Ireland and the UK as regards the transfer of accused and convicted persons from one to the other. Indeed, there has been a special and close relationship between the two in that regard; albeit one not without difficulties. In recent times EU Justice and Home Affairs measures and the Good Friday Agreement have supplemented and strengthened the relationship. These include, since January 2004, the European Arrest Warrant (EAW). The EAW has been particularly important in streamlining the extradition process between the Ireland and the UK. This phase of history and co-operation is coming to an end. The UK's membership of the EU has now ceased, and a transition period during which the UK remains part of the EAW will end on 31st December 2020. The extradition relationship between the two is therefore facing a considerable challenge. There are several options open to Ireland, the UK and the EU as a replacement. Time, political will and the interests of third states, however, may well stand in the way of the conclusion of an agreement that optimally serves the interests of all parties and criminal justice. This paper considers the origins of extradition between the UK and Ireland and the alternative methods of extradition open to the UK and Ireland after Brexit. Consideration is given to the likely operation of a Norway-Iceland style agreement and whether such an agreement will be in place by the end of the transition and, if it was, whether its terms are likely to be sufficient for the needs of Ireland and the UK. The possibility of a bilateral arrangement on extradition between Ireland and the UK is also explored. Underlying the discussion is the critical point that the future extradition relationship must retain its 'special' characteristics, and therefore maintain the trust and good will that has developed over the years and given rise to an effective extradition relationship between the two countries. In other words, the lessons of history must be remembered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the newspaper industry in small states with a big, more powerful neighbouring country where the same language is spoken. Austria and Ireland are used as examples to show the similarities within the different frameworks, the chosen newspaper sector displaying typical characteristics of traditional market failure and providing output with strong political relevance. Therefore public policy measures are even more important than in other industries. An economic analysis of the developments in the newspaper industry (in the two countries especially) is given, followed by a survey and interpretation of recent economic policies as well as media policy options. With an overview of the changes in the newspaper industries in Austria and Ireland as a starting point, the article aims to explore whether and what can be done to hinder or even unravel the observed concentration processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intersex people suffer human rights abuses and harms because of non-consensual early medical interventions. They have historically been rendered outside of welfare regimes and equality, diversity and inclusion policies, or forcibly subsumed within sex-binaried institutions. This article draws on critical intersex studies to interrogate the policy silences and collusions that have taken place regarding intersex people's suffering. Using Ireland and England as case studies, we show that current formations of equality and diversity policies are inadequate in relation to intersex issues. Analysis of policy documents from Ireland and the UK using Bacchi's method reveals the erasure and/or marginalisation of intersex people, despite some stated commitments to gender and sexual equality. We conclude that there is a pressing need for social policy work around intersex issues and for reform to support intersex people's equality, diversity and inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse industry–academic links in the context of a dual economy (or disarticulated industrial structure) in Ireland, as an example of a peripheral territory in the EU. The duality found in the Irish industrial structure is the result of a FDI-led industrialisation strategy which has resulted in two distinct economic sectors – foreign and indigenous, respectively – with weak interactions between the two. Through increased public funding of academic research, the Irish government aimed to attract and embed new waves of higher-value foreign direct investment and increase the dynamism of its indigenous enterprise base. Based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative data, the paper analyses a crucial aspect of Ireland’s recent emphasis on STI policy – industry-academic linkages – and finds that the measures introduced reproduce in the public research system the uneven development found in Ireland’s productive system between indigenous industry and the foreign-owned industrial base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigrants experience many obstacles in obtaining jobs with comparable pay and conditions to native workers. Arguably, unionisation could offer migrant workers the mechanism to obtain better pay and conditions. This paper examines whether migrant workers have benefited from unionisation in terms of pay, pensions and health insurance in Ireland. Based on a large-scale national survey, we find that union membership delivers a modest wage premium of a relatively similar magnitude to both nationals and immigrant workers. Unionised immigrants are twice as likely as non-unionised immigrants to earn above the median hourly earnings and have greater pension coverage. In particular, immigrants from the new accession states in the European Union, with the lowest mean hourly earnings of any immigrant group, gain the most from union membership. Nonetheless, Irish nationals enjoy greater benefits from membership than immigrant workers. Addressing this discrepancy will require a greater focus by unions on organising immigrant workers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Perhaps the most challenging aspect of the prosecution's task in a rape trial is proving that consent was absent. Despite the centrality of consent, the concept is not legislatively defined in Irish law. In this respect, Ireland has lagged considerably behind other comparable common law jurisdictions. Irish guidance on consent continues to be gleaned from common law rules and is generally not sufficiently developed to contribute to minimizing the prosecution's difficulties in proving an absence of consent in rape trials. This paper argues for the introduction of a statutory definition of consent in Irish law and considers the form that a prospective definition should take. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Wrongdoing does not remain isolated in time’ (Radzik, 2009: 4). In February 2013 the McAleese Report confirmed that more than 11,000 women and girls were incarcerated in Ireland’s Magdalen laundries between 1922 and 1996. These women were arguably the scapegoats of Ireland’s national shame as it struggled to develop its identity as a morally pure state following independence, of familial shame as communities fought to hide abuse and illegitimacy, and of male shame, as men (lay and clerical) sought to have their cake and eat it. What does ‘atonement’ – a concept that embodies connection and integration (at-one-ment) mean in the context of shame – a state that signifies rupture, separation and isolation? This paper will explore the role of shame in the dis-integration of relationships and lives and ask whether the Christian concept of atonement can be utilized to put this right. In a moral climate where past abuses in church-run (as well as secular) institutions are increasingly coming to light, what value does atonement have in the way we respond to the on-going reverberations of shaming and shameful wrongdoing? [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For over a quarter of century Ireland's statutory special measures framework, as originally enacted by the Criminal Evidence Act 1992, remained largely unchanged, falling beyond the reformative gaze of successive Irish governments. This period of political inertia, however, came to an abrupt end in 2017 when Irish policymakers, motivated by developments at a European Union level, introduced two landmark legislative instruments which promised to reimagine the availability and diversity of Ireland's store of statutory testimonial accommodations, namely the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 and the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017. By interrogating these newly-commenced instruments in light of the experience of crime victims with intellectual disabilities, this paper surveys the current procedural landscape governing the treatment of vulnerable crime victims in Ireland and is intended to go some way towards exposing the embedded evidential barriers which continue to prejudice efforts aimed at securing their best evidence in court. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Processes of constitutional discussion increasingly invite widespread popular inclusion and participation. Conceptual and practical problems remain, not least the respects in which inclusion is to take place. In deeply divided places, these challenges are intensified, first in the difficulties of conceptualising inclusion, and second in the practical dangers participation may pose to peace. We tackle these problems empirically by looking at a hard case of constitutional discussion amid division: the re-emergence of debate about Irish unity in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Through focus groups and interviews, we explore how 'others', disengaged from the main political groups and defined transversally, approach the discussion, showing that they welcome the prospect of participation and seek to remove discursive triggers of conflict by focussing on shared everyday experience. We discuss the implications for the constitutional process and the likely impact on polarisation. The analysis has implications for the literature on divided societies, for constitutional theory and for policy. We argue that it is both possible and desirable to remedy group exclusion while facilitating universalistic discussion and lessening the dangers of polarisation. The policy implications are quite radical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sale of Goods Act 1893 still dominates Irish law, despite being amended in 1980 and given a European twist in 2003. In 2008, an expert group, the Sales Law Review Group, was established to review the law of sale and to make recommendations for a scheme of legislation capable of providing a statutory sales law framework appropriate to modern-day conditions and needs. The Group reported finally in late 2011, with over 120 recommendations for reform. The proposals have been welcomed by Government, although legislation implementing the proposals is still awaited. This paper seeks to place these proposals in a common law context and critically evaluate the main recommendations for reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to assess open disclosure in Ireland following clinical adverse events in healthcare. A number of areas were examined from the patient's and healthcare team's perspectives. The barriers/constraints to open disclosure, the extent of policies, procedures or guidelines that are available for staff to consult with, inclusive of how they are implemented, harvested valuable insight. The supports available for healthcare staff following an adverse event and patients' expectations after such an event are also encompassed to include the relationship open disclosure has on concerns regarding litigious intent. The questionnaire was disseminated to a multidisciplinary healthcare group. The questions were numbered 1-9, with a mixture of open and closed questions. A five-point Likert format was used with three questions in attitudinal/ opinion statements, regarding supports available for staff following an adverse event. A Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used to assist with the interpretation of data. This study was directed at the multidisciplinary healthcare team and senior management within the Health Service Executive (HSE) and Voluntary sectors. The oldest hospitals in Ireland are voluntary public hospitals some of them originating from the 18th century, having been established by charities and religious orders. Voluntary hospitals are partly funded by the HSE, specifically having their own governance structure. There was a response rate of 67% (n ¼ 192). A total 56.5% of respondents stated their organization did not have an open disclosure policy, procedure or guideline in place however, 16% of the attendees stated there was one in place. A total of 54.4% (104) acknowledged barriers/concerns surrounding open disclosure, with fear of litigious intent noted by 24% of respondents. A total of 52.3% (101) identified support availability to staff following an adverse event, 38.9% (10) felt there was little/no follow-up support, with 11.1.% (2) stating they were made to feel guilty, and associated it with being "on trial". Findings demonstrate an unstructured approach to disclosure of adverse events in Ireland, with fear of litigation a major concern for healthcare professionals. Error awareness among the general public, the introduction of protective legislation and implementation of a national standard on open disclosure in conjunction with practical training and education will all positively and practically influence open disclosure of adverse events in Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has recently handed down its judgement in the case of three women contesting the abortion law in the Republic of Ireland, which has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world. Although the Court ruled that Ireland had to clarify the current law following the success of one of the three claims, the failure of the other two claims allows Ireland to continue to enforce its law, which has an adverse effect on women's health. This paper, therefore, proposes an amendment to abortion legislation in the Republic of Ireland that would be compatible with safeguarding women's health, highlighting several circumstances in which the continuation of a pregnancy may have a detrimental impact on a woman's physical and/or mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]