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While the official reports of the Jesuit mission to Ireland during the Restoration period depicted an impoverished, desolate existence at the periphery of Europe, the personal correspondence of the missionaries paints quite a different picture. Financial questions were of overwhelming importance. The article demonstrates that it was not the shortage of money that impeded the mission's long-term success. Instead, the missionaries' reliance on different networks with opposing norm expectation shindered a unified effort and left the mission unprepared for the political changes of the late seventeenth century. After the Cromwellian conquest most of the Irish Jesuits fled to the continent where they made active use of a variety of connections provided to them by three major network domains: as Jesuits they profited from the multiple ties of the globally operating order, which facilitated investments. As Irishmen in Europe they formed part of an international British exile network where they found refuge and sources of income. Without much difficulty, Irish Jesuit exiles could conform to the role patterns attached to both these networks and meet the respective norm expectations. Problems arose when the missionaries returned to their native environment after the Restoration. The national clan-network in which they were originally rooted was much less compatible with the role patterns expected from them by the order. Irish Catholic families expected their members to work first and foremost for the benefit and survival of the clan, while the Society of Jesus demanded respect for the hierarchy and investment of money for the good of the mission. During the 1650s, profits from investments and donations were acquired through the networks of exiles and the order. These would have provided a comfortable starting point for the re-establishment of the mission, but the opportunity was missed. Torn between the norms of their diverging network domains, the opportunity to establish the mission on safer ground was lost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ambiguity is a fundamental human experience. But in recent years, research in the humanities and social sciences has shown that societies have very different ways of dealing with ambiguity,and with religious ambiguity in particular: they either tolerate, moderate or seek to destroy it. In this context, Ireland is an especially telling case, as the denominational boundaries that were drawn in Early Modern Irish society seem remarkably impervious, long-lasting and hostile to any form of religious ambiguity. In this article, I argue that one of the most drastic and most enduring attempts to eradicate ambiguity in Irish society took place in the 1630 s. Clear-cut identities emerged along the confessional divide which heavily impacted everyday life. Four developments facilitated this process: 1) Educational migration to the continent led to a reshuffling of religious elites and, in turn, to a heightened sense of denominational orthodoxy. 2) A new way of writing history came to prominence which attempted to replace established group identities (Gaelic-Irish, Old English, etc.) with an all-embracing, religiously infused notion of “Irishness". 3) The book market gradually expanded, significantly increasing its scope from a generation earlier, with new literature coming in and with new libraries being established across the country. As a consequence, readers became more keenly aware of the theological debates in England and on the European continent. 4) Long established funeral practices such us the trans-confessional use of burial plots in churches and former monasteries were disrupted, leading to new boundaries, symbolically as well as physically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On January 1st 2013, Ireland assumed the Presidency of the Council for the 7th time. Taking over the responsibilities of the Presidency coincided with the 40th anniversary of Ireland's accession to the European Union in 1973. Ireland's 7th Presidency was challenging. First, Ireland found itself in the unenviable position of being a 'programme country' having had to request a bail-out from the other euro states and IMF in November 2010. Second, this presidency was conducted under the rules of the Lisbon Treaty which made substantial changes in the role and prerogatives of the rotating presidency. Ireland has always prided itself on running efficient and effective presidencies and achieving tangible negotiating outcomes. This presidency had the added priority of completing the repairs to Ireland's battered reputation following the crisis. Beyond the presidency, Ireland's future prosperity in the euro area depends on a return to growth and on euro area that has addressed the design faults in Euro zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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