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Acknowledging the reproductive function of schools, this paper explores three pivotal periods of Irish second-level education over the past century and considers how these periods were influenced by the political context at that time. The analysis shows that an insular nationalistic period that used schools as a vehicle for social and cultural reproduction was replaced from the 1960s to the present with an economically outwardly looking period that used schools as a vehicle to advance economic development while maintaining their reproductive function. Throughout this time, a meritocratic rhetoric dominated that downplayed continuing educational inequalities. The paper highlights how the political backdrop to these changes goes some way to explaining the nature of the policies and practices implemented and argues for greater attention focused on the political backdrop to education policy in general. With the fragmentation of the political homogeneity that once dominated Irish politics and in the context of a rise in populism globally, the paper raises questions about how this changing political climate is likely to influence future educational policy, particular policies focused on educational disadvantage.

The significant role of language in mathematics teaching and learning is not a new phenomenon. Given the growth of cultural and economic migration, the increasing international focus on education for economic development and the widespread use of English as a language for learning, we have become acutely aware of the importance of language in adults' mathematics learning. While investigation has been undertaken in relation to the role of language in the learning and teaching of mathematics at primary and second level, little research has been done on multilingual (including bilingual) adults' learning of mathematics and the ways in which teaching might support such learning. In this paper we investigate the role of language in the mathematics and numeracy education of bi/multilingual adults with a focus on the mathematics register and discourse; we address the relationship between language(s) and learning; we provide a review of available literature specific to adult learners; and discuss implications for adult mathematics education.

Cork and Limerick have conducted Lifelong Learning Festivals, Cork for ten years and Limerick for the past three years. This paper reviews aspects of this experience and considers the question of whether successful Lifelong Learning Festivals can be seen as a pathway to building sustainable learning cities. Discussed in the context of an initiative by Cork, we examine how Cork has adopted an international development by PASCAL to reconceptualise learning cities as broadly based sustainable opportunity cities, and action by Limerick to extend its city experience to the whole county following the decision to amalgamate city and county. (Contains 1 footnote.)

Microsimulation attempts to describe economic and social events by modelling the behaviour of individual agents. These models have proved useful in evaluating the impact of policy changes at the micro level. Spatial microsimulation models contain geographic information and allow for a regional or local approach to policy analysis. This paper builds on previous work on urban systems by employing similar modelling techniques for the analysis of rural areas [Birkin, M., Clarke, M., 1988. SYNTHESIS--a synthetic spatial information system for urban and regional analysis: methods and examples. Environment and Planning A 20, 1645-1671; Ballas, D. et al., 1999. Exploring microsimulation methodologies for the estimation of household attributes. The Fourth International Conference on GeoComputation, 25-28 July 1999, Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA (paper presentation); Ballas, D, Clarke, G. P., 2000. GIS and microsimulation for local labour market policy analysis. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems 24, 305-330; Ballas, D., Clarke, G. P., 2001a. Modelling the local impacts of national social policies: a spatial microsimulation approach. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 19, 587-606; Ballas, D., Clarke, G. P., 2001b. Towards local implications of major job transformations in the city: a spatial microsimulation approach. Geographical Analysis 33, 291-311]. It describes the development of the simulation model for the Irish local economy (SMILE) model. SMILE is a static and dynamic spatial microsimulation designed to analyse the impact of policy change and economic development on rural areas in Ireland. This paper focuses on the static model. First, we describe the European and Irish policy environment and indicate the importance of building spatial models to analyse change in rural Ireland. Second, we review existing literature on regional and local modelling techniques and the use of spatial models as tools for policy analysis. Third, we describe the SMILE static model. The model generates synthetic spatially referenced population for the Irish Republic at the small area level--the population micro data is produced for district electoral divisions (DEDs). Finally, we show how data from other sources can be linked to the static model output. We link data from the Irish National Farm Survey on farm system, income and off-farm employment of operator to the SMILE static model. We use this example to show its potential as a tool for policy analysis.

Throughout the 1990s, Europe's rural areas increasingly embraced local action and local development solutions to face the challenge of the continued re-structuring of the agricultural industry. In parallel, in both the EU and the UK, a policy discourse has emerged which envisages a fundamental shift in support policies for rural areas from a sectoral approach (essentially agriculture) to one that is territorial. At the vanguard of these developments has been the EC's LEADER Programme. From a low base of entrepreneurial activity in rural Northern Ireland, LEADER area-based local action groups have acted as beacons for developing new approaches to diversifying the rural economy--in particular stimulating a significant reappraisal of the rural resource base. This paper charts the operational terrain of LEADER local action groups in the Province, suggesting that their strengths have been in developing the institutional capacity of rural communities and brokering connections in the local economy. Examples will be considered which illustrate enhanced coordination and collaboration of local economic actors and sectoral interests, and a strong facilitator role for LEADER groups in the local arena, with an explicit rural focus. The paper argues that this multi-level collaborative activity is rooted in partnership governance, enabling a communicative process among local stakeholders.

The Irish Economy is at an interesting and dynamic phase of its development and people are faced with major decisions that will impact on the Irish society for many years to come. These decisions are and must be made by all who are in a position to influence. Economic evolution or revolution is not new and is most certainly not new to these shores. The Irish Economy has undergone a number of significant evolutions and revolutions since the 1950s. In the 1990s people started to see the emergence of the "knowledge economy" and the "Dot Com" companies. The Iona Technology Organisation comes to mind, along with the Intels of this world. In the first decade of this millennium people have been introduced to a new phenomenon--the Service Economy. While people can debate the time of the various evolutions and the impact of each, they need to accept that this evolution is part of the changing Irish Economy. In this article, the author discusses the debate about the impact of the changing Irish Economy and what can be done to influence the impact of the changes that are thrust upon by the evolution. The author offers some suggestions to open the debate.

Purpose: While the growth of the Irish economy ("Celtic Tiger") has been well documented, not enough attention has been given to the role of education as a cornerstone for the success. This paper seeks to review education policy in Ireland over the past 50 years and to identify the significant educational initiatives that helped shape modern Ireland. Design/methodology/approach: Primarily utilising history books and governmental papers with specific reference to education policy in Ireland, the paper is a review of the relevant literature offering an insight into a variety of schemes instigated by various Ministers for Education over the past five decades. Findings: The key finding was that the consistent education policies of the preceding decades bore fruit: during the 1990s, there was growing demand for educated human capital in all developed countries, and its ready availability in Ireland helped to attract foreign direct investment and to promote the development of indigenous companies. Originality/value: This paper uses education policy in Ireland to create a link from mass emigration in the 1950s to the "Celtic Tiger" boom years of recent times.

Most studies of the relationship between education and economic development focus on the line of causation running from the former to the latter. The present paper studies how the pattern of Irish development has influenced the structure of the Irish education system. The first section sets out the economic context of late industrialisation within which "Investment in Education" was commissioned in 1962 and how it influenced the reception that the report received. The report's release would be followed shortly thereafter by a series of policy measures that would expand secondary-school enrolment and graduation rates and massively increase the demand for third-level places. Later sections analyse the subsequent evolution of Ireland's binary system of tertiary education and the recent attention devoted to science, technology and innovation policy and the "fourth-level" (postgraduate) sector. Concluding comments focus on the continuing relevance of the perspective embodied in "Investment in Education" for the surprisingly high numbers who continue to leave the Irish education system without a leaving certificate qualification.

The 2008 global financial crisis cast a long shadow over Ireland's higher education and research system. The IMF said Ireland experienced an "unprecedented economic correction", while Ireland's National Economic and Social Development Office said Ireland was beset by five different crises: a banking crisis, a fiscal crisis, an economic crisis, a social crisis and a reputational crisis. Despite a return to growth, these circumstances provide the best explanation for the policy choices being undertaken as key actors struggle to sustain the publicly funded mass system, and reassert the country's position as a globally competitive knowledge society attractive to mobile capital and skilled labour. Whatever the outcome, it is unlikely that public funding for higher education will return to levels previously enjoyed. This paper examines the background and policy challenges confronting the government and higher education, and discusses the role of higher education researchers in helping shape options.

According to the GEM Ireland Report (2009), those who have exposure to entrepreneurship education in Ireland have an increased propensity to start a new venture. The importance of entrepreneurial skills was picked up by the European Union which, in its Lisbon Strategy of March 2000, declared its objective of transforming Europe into the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010, and indicated that it considered entrepreneurship to be one of the "new basic skills" for this knowledge-based economy. This paper examines how Irish HEIs can improve their provision of entrepreneurship education to promote positive economic growth. In particular, the authors explore the approach, process and research of the Accelerating Campus Entrepreneurship Initiative, which is a collaborative project involving five Irish HEIs aiming to produce entrepreneurial graduates in Ireland. (Contains 4 tables, 2 figures, and 5 notes.)

While higher education is regarded a high priority for economic development in many countries, public budgets often fall short to support desired levels of expansion in higher education. This leads to cost-sharing: students and their families are required to contribute more to the costs of higher education. This paper explores worldwide trends to cope with this issue based on the following questions: Is it fair to ask for larger contributions from students? What are the global patterns and forms of higher private shares in the costs of higher education? And what is the impact of cost-sharing on higher education access and equity? (Contains 4 tables and 2 footnotes.)

This paper analyses a number of European regions which, in the last two decades, have exhibited a significant shift towards knowledge-intensive industrial sectors coupled with a considerable increase in competitiveness and growth. The analysis identifies the main factors of territorial development behind each regional renewal process and captures a number of common trajectories of regional competitiveness. Interestingly, all the regional "success stories" are strongly dependent on the presence of a tri-polar regional innovation system that glues together firms, government institutions and academia. (Contains 7 tables, 1 figure, and 8 notes.)

This paper provides an overview of some of the reasons for the extraordinary growth in what was traditionally seen as a peripheral economy on the Celtic fringe of North West Europe. Learning, innovation and social capital offer important clues behind the story of the "Celtic Tiger." However, there is a downside to this story: Ireland continues to rank as one of the most unequal out of a group of 18 industrialised countries. Given the global emphasis on knowledge as central to the enhancement of opportunities at the individual and societal level, we focus on one crucially important equity dimension--that of opportunities for participation by the majority of the population, namely adults, in education and training. The question we pose is: to what extent does Ireland offer a model of a "knowledge society for all," as opposed to a "knowledge economy for some"? We highlight a number of implications and questions which we regard as important for Lifelong Learning in Ireland and other members of the "new" Europe seeking to find the "miracle" formula for social and economic development. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

This paper explores the landscape of training and development in the Republic of Ireland, a country with an impressive economic record in recent years. Both the Irish economic context and business context are explored. The national system for training and development and the surrounding policy and strategy context are set down. Survey data are drawn upon to examine the nature of training and development at organizational level. Here influence on training and development, levels of expenditure, the number of days per employee category and the dominant methods employed training and development are all discussed. Finally the academic study of training and development in the Republic of Ireland is examined.

This article is based on a keynote paper presented to the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER), University College Dublin, 5-9 September 2005. The massification of education in European countries over the last 100 years has produced cultures and societies that have benefited greatly from state investment in education. To maintain this level of social and economic development that derives from high quality education requires continual state investment. With the rise of the New Right, neo-liberal agenda, there is an attempt to offload the cost of education, and indeed other public services such as housing, transport, care services etc., on to the individual. There is an increasing attempt to privatise public services, including education, so that citizens will have to buy them at market value rather than have them provided by the state. Europe is no exception to this trend of neo-liberalisation. Recent Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reports, including one on higher education in Ireland, (2004), concentrate strongly on the role of education in servicing the economy to the neglect of its social and developmental responsibilities. The view that education is simply another market commodity has become normalised in policy and public discourses. Schools run purely as businesses are a growing phenomenon within and without Europe, and there is an increasing expectation in several countries that schools will supplement their income from private sources, even though they are within the state sector. In this article, the writer presents both a critique of the neo-liberal model of marketised education and a challenge to academics to work as public intellectuals both individually and with civil society organisations to develop a counter-hegemonic discourse to neo-liberalism for higher education. (Contains 13 notes.)

Ireland has been a full member of the European Union since 1973. As a member state of the EU, Ireland plays an important role in the formation of European policies and decision-making that affect the development of the European Union. Ireland perceives the European integration process as an opportunity to strengthen the economy and raise the standard of living of its citizens. Over the years of membership in the EU, Ireland has received significant support and financial assistance from the European Union, which has enabled a number of economic and social reforms to be implemented. Slovenia is a small country in Southern Europe that joined the European Union in 2004, along with other Central and Eastern European countries. As a member of the EU, Slovenia has the right to participate in all its programs and initiatives, as well as to influence decision-making within the EU. The country adopted the euro as its currency in 2007. Slovenia has a high level of development and is one of the best EU countries in terms of living standards. The country also exports goods such as automobiles, electronics, engineering, pharmaceuticals, and other products. Slovenia also has a developed tourism industry. The paper compares the economic development of Ireland and Slovenia in the context of the European Union. Ireland has a more developed economy that provides high GDP growth rates, large amounts of investment and stable exports of goods and services. On the other hand, Slovenia has a less developed economy, with a lower rate of GDP growth, but with a higher level of employment and less dependence on foreign exports. The article also examines the peculiarities of the economic policy of each country, in particular, the role of the state in stimulating economic growth and attractiveness for investors. The study indicates that Ireland successfully implemented a strategy of attracting foreign investment and creating favorable conditions for business, which contributed to the rapid development of the country's economy. In turn, Slovenia focused on developing the domestic market and supporting small and medium-sized businesses. The history of economic development of each country and their current economic indicators, such as GDP, unemployment, investment, etc., are analyzed. The key factors that helped each country achieve success in economic development are identified. The problems and unique challenges that these countries face in terms of regional problems affecting the EU are considered. Overall, the article provides useful information about the economic development of Ireland and Slovenia, their characteristics and the factors that contributed to their economic development in the context of the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ireland has gone through a radical transformation from the Celtic Tiger years to the IMF-EU bail-out of 2010. This paper presents evidence of the priority infrastructural gaps that will inhibit economic growth, based on interviews with a broad spectrum of key stake holders. The paper explores the factors for industry locating within a region and highlights the issues associated with national, regional and local planning, and how these can potentially inhibit or aid industrial development within a region and thus the region's growth. This paper demonstrates serious short-comings in the broadband connectivity to all areas outside Dublin and the need for the basic requirement of water quality and capacity to be urgently addressed. It reinforces the need for investment in Ireland's physical infrastructure to be aligned with a long-term strategy and vision, with infrastructural investment decisions based on a holistic, numbers-based evaluation methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the results of a two-year research project on the sources of success in regional clusters of entrepreneurship and innovation like Silicon Valley. Our project has studied a number of locations, most of which have shown spectacular rates of growth of information and communications technology-related activities during the 1990s. Our case studies comprise some emerging regions, notably in Ireland, India, Israel and Taiwan, along with more advanced areas like Northern Virginia in the US, Cambridge, UK, the Scandinavian countries and the Silicon Valley 40 years ago by way of the memory of one of its 'father founders', Gordon Moore. Through visits, interviews and other materials, we uncovered some regularities about the determinants of success of these entrepreneurial-led models of economic growth. We find that the economic factors that give rise to the start of a cluster can be very different from those that keep it going. Agglomeration economies, external effects and 'social increasing returns' of any sort arise almost naturally after a cluster has taken off But the most difficult and risky part is to get the new clusters started. At that stage, 'old economy' factors like firm-building capabilities, managerial skills, a substantial supply of skilled labor and connection to markets were crucial for the take off of these 'new economy' clusters (including Silicon Valley 40 years ago). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acquisition and enhancement of social capital is a continuous process of negotiation and interaction between self and social context. While the concept of social capital has been dealt with extensively in international research, relatively few studies have explored social capital among young people, particularly in the school context. This paper considers access of first-year students (age twelve to thirteen years) to school-based social capital in secondary schools in the Republic of Ireland. Drawing on several theories dealing with social capital, the paper describes factors that are likely to have an impact on the acquisition process. It is argued in the paper that access to teacher- and peer-based social capital may provide valuable resources that ease the transition process for students as they move from primary schools to secondary level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effects of a declining birth rate and an increasing old age-population ratio on Ireland's economic output. Design/methodology/approach -- This paper utilises data on the birth rate, old-age population ratio, economic output and labour effort of the Irish economy to estimate a vector-autoregressive model. The results of this model are then analysed to test for the presence of Granger causality among these variables. In doing so it is possible to assess whether there are statistically significant causal relationships existing among these factors. Subsequently, impulse response functions are derived from this model in order to assess the magnitude of the causal relationships. Findings -- The results suggest that declining fertility rates and increases in the old-age dependency ratio have a significant impact on labour effort and economic output. Labour effort is also found to explain variation in the fertility rate and economic output. Economic output is found to effect labour effort and the fertility rate. Social implications -- The results derived in this paper raise interesting policy implications. It is evident that Ireland's declining birth rate and increasing old-age population ratio are creating a demographic situation which will have implications for future economic growth. Policies need to be put in place to mitigate the negative effects these factors will have on Irish growth. Originality/value -- This paper adopts modem econometric techniques to assess the causal relationships which exist between the demographic and economic factors considered. These have not previously been applied to the Irish situation. In doing this, this paper provides an important insight into the changing dynamics of the Irish economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the discursive rationalities shaping Irish child policy, with a particular focus on the rationality of "better with less" and its association with an intensified focus on the early years. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis there was a shift towards universal provision of early years services as part of the better with less agenda – the paper critically examines the assumptions which shaped this policy reform.Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on analysis of the texts of the two national child policy plans produced to date in Ireland – The Children, Their Lives 2000–2010 and Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures 2014–2020.Findings Ireland adopted its first national children's strategy The Children, Their Lives in 2000, associated with an initial shift to a more technocratic, investment-oriented approach to policy making. The emphasis on economic returns is more strongly evident in the successor adopted in 2014. Informed by the "better with less" agenda Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures has a strong focus on early years provision as offering the most significant potential for returns, particularly in relation to "disadvantaged" children. This position not only objectifies children but is associated with a set of assumptions about the nature of "disadvantage" and those affected by it which ignores the wider context of unequal social, political and economic relations.Originality/value National children's strategies have not been explicitly looked at previously as a form of governmentalization of government and there has been limited analysis to date in Ireland or elsewhere of the better with less agenda in the context of child policy, gaps which this paper seeks to address. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates cultural dimensions and processes of exclusion in rural Ireland and Russia that impact upon marginalised rural people by making them poor. It employs Bourdieu and Passeron’s (1977) concept of cultural capital, which provides understanding of both structural effects of cultural discrimination and individual strategies of cultural reproduction on well-being. First, it explores the function of cultural capital as a power resource that can be used to monopolise certain cultural preferences. Second, the paper studies the function of cultural capital to mark cultural distance and to put people with less-valued cultural resources in a disadvantaged position that can limit poor people’s access to social settings and resources. Third, the paper investigates the function of cultural capital to exclude individuals by means of regulating their aspirations and cultural dispositions, which degrade social bonds and limit people’s sources of economic growth. The results of this study reveal the complexity of classificatory effects of cultural practices on poverty and argue against treating culture as a residual category in poverty studies. It takes on board the findings from this study to critically re-evaluate certain stereotypes of hardship and to articulate the need for a broader understanding of rural poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most debated questions of growth theory is whether or not government policies can be used to influence the long run growth rate of the economy. Neoclassical theory states economic policy actions can only have short run effects on the growth rate of the economy, but it can't change the long run perspectives for growth. Endogenous growth theory integrated (among several other factors) fiscal policy to the growth models, enabling it to influence long run growth performance. According to these theories some elements of the government budget have positive effects on the long run growth rate of the economy (productive expenditures, and budget balance), while others are neutral (non-distortionary taxation and unproductive expenditures), or have negative consequences for growth (distortionary taxation). In my paper I summarize the theoretical and empirical literature of the relationship between fiscal policy and long run economic growth shortly. Then I continue my work with using the parameter estimates of a third generation study of developed countries (which considers the budget constraint as well) to evaluate the fiscal policy actions taken in Hungary and in Ireland, concentrating on the overall long run trends in the last one and a half decade. I will try to give explanation for the differences in the two countries' reactions to some of the similar fiscal policy changes mapped during my research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the economic growth and energy consumption patterns, most countries are striving to solve the problems of CO 2  emissions reduction to achieve sustainable development. This paper employs an improved DEA model to measure energy and environmental efficiency for some selected countries in central and western Europe. In addition, the DEA window evaluation technique is applied to measure cross-sectional efficiency using two inputs (energy consumption, labor force), a desirable output (gross domestic product), and an undesirable output (CO 2 emission) for the period from 2010 to 2014. The study finds that the UK ranks the highest position in term of energy and environmental efficiency. This shows that the UK has more effective policies regarding energy efficiency, consumption, production, import and energy intensity measures for sustainable economic growth as well as environmental protection. Ireland is the second-best country after the United Kingdom. The efficiency scores of the two countries are 0.99 and 0.89 respectively. On the empirical outcomes, this study suggests effective reforms in energy sector for countries with less energy efficiency that are still facing the problem of environmental degradation., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Energy efficiency is an effective strategy to reduce household energy consumption. Investments in energy efficiency measures (EEMs) result in reduced energy bills and increased comfort for households, while also contributing to national environmental targets. This article examines an energy efficiency scheme in Ireland and investigates the factors that determine investments in energy efficiency measures and the motivations of Irish households to participate in energy saving programs and adopt EEMs. The paper investigates three key research questions: the determination of investments in EEMs, with special focus on motivations and their relative importance; the consistency of motivations over the course of the decision-making process; and the consistency of determinants and motivations for investments in EEMs across different measures. The paper studies the implementation of seven energy efficiency measures in residential houses throughout Ireland. Results indicate that the decision to ultimately apply and invest in EEMs is mainly driven by monetary or economic factors such as gains in energy savings and the private cost of the measures. Comfort gains are found to be a secondary factor and environmental benefits of EEMs are found to be of little concern when making investment decisions. Finally, we suggest focusing on providing information about the benefits of the EEMs on energy savings and improvements in comfort in order to increase the adoption of EEMs by households in Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Built heritage conservation has traditionally been shaped by professionals through an ‘authorised heritage discourse’, emphasising expert knowledge and skills, universal value, a hierarchy of significance, and protecting the authenticity of tangible assets. However, while the purpose of built heritage conservation is widely recognised to be broad, encompassing cultural, social and economic benefits, it takes place in the presence, and on behalf, of a wider public whose values and priorities may differ starkly from those of heritage power-players. Drawing on the perspectives of a range of built heritage actors in three small towns in Ireland, this paper contributes to these debates, exploring the competing values and priorities embedded within lay discourses of heritage. Based on critical discourse analysis of interviews with local actors, the paper identifies that collected memory and local place distinctiveness, contributing to a sense of local identity, are of central importance in how non-experts construct their understanding of built heritage. In the Irish context, this is particularly important in understanding social and cultural statutory categories of heritage interest. The paper concludes on the implications for policy and practice and, in particular, the need to more effectively take account of non-expert values and priorities in heritage and conservation decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a systematic overview of the emergence of organized crime in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland since the late 1960s. It draws on two major studies of organized crime in the South (Hourigan 2011) and paramilitary activity in the North (Morrison 2014) to explore how conflict within and between organized criminal and paramilitary groups, shapes the distinctive dynamic of organized crime on the island of Ireland. The paper opens with an overview of the development of the drugs trade in the Republic of Ireland. The distinctive cultural characteristics of Irish organized crime groups are considered and the role played by paramilitary groups in criminal networks, North and South, is reviewed. As part of this analysis, the dynamic of inter-gang feuds and the spectrum of conflicts between organized criminal and paramilitary groups are analyzed. The competitive and mutually beneficial links between these organizations, North and South are explored as well as the tendency of paramilitaries to engage in vigilantism against criminals (mostly drugs dealers) as a means of building political capital within local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a model of discrete choice to analyze the choice of voters among a number of political parties. It then applies the model to an empirical analysis of the relationship between a government's economic performance and its political popularity for the Republic of Ireland over the period 1974-1987. Within this general statement the paper makes three contributions. First, it sheds light on a hitherto unknown phenomenon - namely the nature of the relation between economic performance and political popularity in Ireland. Second, it does this within the context of analyzing the reactions of different types of voters viz. voters of all social classes and then of social classes ABC1 and C2DE. Third, the empirical work is grounded firmly in a choice theoretic model involving optimal choices between discrete alternatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the impact of economic integration on enterprise in a small open economy. The paper analyses large, small and total new company registrations in Ireland. It examines the impact of spill-overs from the United Kingdom labour and product markets on Irish firm formation. The study finds that negative labour market spill-overs dominate positive product market spill-overs so that a net negative effect results from Irish - British economic integration. The results indicate that enterprise in peripheral economies may be more vibrant if product market integration is introduced before labour market integration. The paper also finds enterprise to be positively affected by the number of university graduates in the labour force. House prices are found to have a net negative impact on enterprise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition from economic protectionism to free trade in the late-1950s saw the Irish government embark on a project to improve the state's image abroad. Up to that point, the state had endured a tempestuous relationship with British newspapers and the adoption of free trade necessitated a new rapport to encourage positive coverage of the industrialisation project. The key components of this strategy were the courting of British newspapers through state sponsorship of special supplements, facilitating visits by British journalists to industrial sites, and providing interview access to senior ministers. Such actions constituted the state's first exercise in nation branding and represented a sea change in how it interacted with British media. This article offers an analysis of this project to project an image of a modern, industrial Ireland for overseas consumption. It finds that the project was only partly successful: while much coverage highlighted the state's economic modernisation, this was often accompanied by commentary that was critical of the lack of social change. It also finds that the tensions present in this initial nation branding project also characterised later nation branding projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on the recollections of its author of the work of the Investment in Education team from its inauguration in summer 1962 until the completion of its work in early 1965. The author was a research assistant to the team throughout the period of the study and was directly involved in the collection and analysis of the data on which the findings of the report were based. The paper describes the conditions under which the team operated. It adverts to some of the contentious issues which arose out of the data analysis. It explores the evolving roles of the Steering Committee, of senior civil servants in the Department of Education and of the chairman and of individual members of the team during the two-and-a-half-year period. It discusses some of the external influences which impacted on members of the team and explores how the changing economic and cultural life of Ireland in the early 1960s affected their thinking. It touches on the setting up of the Development Branch in the Department of Education in 1966 and its premature disbandment by the Minister Richard Burke in 1973. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we use a partial adjustment model to analyse the relationship between employment and population growth in Irish district electoral divisions. We employ a spatial estimator to augment our partial adjustment model with a spatial lag and spatial error process. Our results indicate a dual relationship between employment and population growth, suggesting that not only do people follow jobs but also jobs follow people. This finding has implications for economic development policies, which typically focus solely on attracting jobs to a location. The results suggest that a dual-pronged approach to policy may be necessary including developing a region’s amenities to ensure that it is attractive to people and to stimulate population growth. We highlight how our analysis can be used to inform policy through the lenses of place-based and smart specialisation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the macroeconomic performance of the Irish economy in the years leading up to the Celtic Tiger period and afterward, from 1980 to 2011. The goal of the paper is to determine how a severe recession in the 1980s could be followed so quickly by the unprecedented boom years of the Celtic Tiger, and followed again by the marked economic downturn since 2007. I build a Keynesian model of growth that integrates effective demand and productivity regimes to allow for the possibility that a redistribution of income can either spur or retard growth, depending on whether the regime is wage-led or profit-led. Using data for the Irish economy I test this model for wage-led or profit-led growth, finding plausible evidence that the Celtic Tiger years were, in fact, profit led. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose - While the growth of the Irish economy ("Celtic Tiger") has been well documented, not enough attention has been given to the role of education as a cornerstone for the success. This paper seeks to review education policy in Ireland over the past 50 years and to identify the significant educational initiatives that helped shape modern Ireland. Design/methodology/approach - Primarily utilising history books and governmental papers with specific reference to education policy in Ireland, the paper is a review of the relevant literature offering an insight into a variety of schemes instigated by various Ministers for Education over the past five decades. Findings - The key finding was that the consistent education policies of the preceding decades bore fruit: during the 1990s, there was growing demand for educated human capital in all developed countries, and its ready availability in Ireland helped to attract foreign direct investment and to promote the development of indigenous companies. Originality/value - This paper uses education policy in Ireland to create a link from mass emigration in the 1950s to the "Celtic Tiger" boom years of recent times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A good deal of research has focused on part-time employment among full-time students in higher education. However, little attention has been paid to the way in which these patterns may reflect societally specific processes rather than universal trends. This paper examines ways in which the higher education system itself can influence variation in student employment, using the Republic of Ireland as a case study. The Irish case is interesting because of the presence of rapid economic growth side by side with marked increases in educational participation rates. This paper reports on a national survey of 3900 higher education students. It indicates the way in which employment levels vary according to course requirements and funding arrangements as well as socio-demographic factors. In addition, the paper places student involvement in part-time work in the context of their overall workload and its impact on levels of life satisfaction, an area largely neglected in international research. It is argued in this paper that inadequate policy attention to the changing profile of higher education students and appropriate financial support structures for students risks reinforcing inequalities among students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The focus of this paper is to highlight the synergies and mutual benefits associated with a range of entrepreneurship education initiatives for a combination of internal and external stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach - The paper provides a description of four entrepreneurship education initiatives in operation at the University of Limerick, Ireland. Detail on the objectives of the initiatives, the content, delivery, assessment and benefits of these initiatives is provided. Findings - Entrepreneurship and enterprising activity are widely regarded as instrumental for economic growth, for balanced regional development and for the creation of jobs. Educational institutions need to ensure that graduates are capable of acting in an enterprising manner in the workplace either as an entrepreneur or as an intrapreneur in paid employment. This double objective can materialise through the provision of entrepreneurship education, within either a business or a technical course. Additionally, these same programmes can also be an effective mechanism for the provision of targeted training programmes for skills enhancement in the owner/manager and the creation and facilitation of linkages and working relationships with the small business community. Involvement in technology transfer and industry-based research activities also provides benefits to the small firm. Practical implications - The paper presents challenges for educators and educational institutions on how they perceive and address the needs of their stakeholders by extending the traditional paradigm of what constitutes the role of an educational institution. The need to engage with external stakeholders in programme design and delivery requires commitment by educational institutions and requires educators to change their knowledge and teaching perspective. The findings have implications on how entrepreneurship education initiatives are designed, delivered and assessed to meet the needs of different stakeholders. Originality/value - This paper and its conclusions add to the debate on the importance of linking educational institutions and industry, especially the small firm sector, by suggesting a number of methods of collaboration which mutually benefit a number of stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the geography of finance in the globalising knowledge-based economy, characterised by the proliferation of information and communication technology. More specifically, the paper aims to examine the “locational structure” of financial services in such an economy and its implications for uneven regional development in Europe. In doing so, the paper engages with the concept of “space of flows” and several other theoretical approaches concerned with the geography of advanced producer services and finance. It argues that while such approaches provide a useful starting point, they need be developed further in order to inform an understanding of both the nature and the dynamics of the “locational structure” of financial services and its implications for regional economic development. This point is illustrated in the case of Ireland, focusing on “domestic” banking institutions and “international” financial services operating there. The paper concludes that while “space of flows” provides a useful metaphor for approaching the geography of financial services and other knowledge intensive business services, the conceptual and analytical emphasis should shift towards the “flows of value” that ultimately impinge upon the fortunes of cities and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an attempt to probe deeper behind the well-documented success story of the Irish economy over the 1990s. Over the decade, the country experienced unparalleled levels of economic growth that saw unemployment levels plummet, inflation levels stabilize and inward investment rise at a substantial rate. Growth rates of gross national product (GNP) best surmise the Irish case, the tigerish performance brought the country from one with a per capita GNP two-thirds of the European Union (EU) average in 1987, to one which exceeded the average 10 years later. An exposition of Ireland's pursuit of a foreign direct investment (FDI) development model forms a major part of this work. Recognizing the importance of FDI in Ireland, and FDI in the software sector in particular, this paper shows how and why investors flocked into the country over the golden era of the 1990s. Exogenously, Ireland's place on the outskirts of one of the world's biggest markets made it an alluring option for outside investors. Endogenously, the rationale behind the pursuit of high-tech FDI policy, beyond employment creation was the expected spill-over effects of multinational companies (MNCs) on the local economy. Questions are asked about the nature of positive externalities both in terms of the growth of an indigenous sector alongside a foreign-owned one as well as the sustainability of this type of investment. Changes in the organizational structures of MNCs over the 1990s, through decentralization of activities and outsourcing are integral to the Irish success story. Organizational transformation resulting in networks of global production have helped Ireland, as a peripheral region, to reposition itself as an access point to the lucrative European market. The geographic alteration on the national level however, has not been recreated on the sub-national scale. Contrary to the writings of many technology determinists, Ireland's pursuit of an information economy has had a very real impact in terms of regional economic divergence within the country. The lack of coherent regional or spatial planning is to blame along with a telecommunications infrastructure that has exacerbated the regional woes of an economy with an explicit focus on high-technology industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the role of the planning system in the overproduction of development during Ireland’s Celtic Tiger needs to be analysed as instructive of contemporary neo-liberal transformations of strategic spatial planning. Leaning on a Foucauldian governmentality perspective, the genealogy of modern Irish planning practice is explored to elucidate how neo-liberal rationalities became embedded in institutional norms through consensus-driven partnership governance. The central premise is that the turn to ‘strategic spatial planning’, particularly with the publication of the National Spatial Strategy in 2002, was usefully exploited to mask the spatial politics of the ever-increasing need for the state to facilitate capital switching into built environment formation in order to maintain conditions of high economic growth. Using the empirical case study of housing development in the ‘Upper Shannon’ region and large-scale commercial development in County Meath, it is argued that this contributed to a destabilization of the planning system and an abandonment of basic planning principles. The paper concludes that, in the context of the new and deeply uneven economic geography of post-crisis Ireland, there is an urgent need for a repoliticized critique of normative interpretations of strategic spatial planning practice in order for more progressive practices to emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Public houses, or “pubs”, have and always had an important role in the Irish culture, economy and society. Even more, pubs located in the Irish countryside represent vital networking places for local communities, and provide a significant contribution to local supply chains with their purchasing. Their decline in number, registered in recent decades, significantly affects local communities, determining the vanishing of many jobs and business opportunities in areas frequently characterized by small population catchments, infrastructural deficit and spatial remoteness. This paper explores the impact of pubs in creating economic development in rural areas of Ireland. The paper examines the current pattern of procurement and employment associated with pubs in the Irish countryside and its effects upon local supply chains. In addition, the paper investigates pubs' activities and publicans influence with regard to concepts such as entrepreneurial embeddedness and resilience. The authors present and discuss findings from an analysis conducted on a unique data set obtained with the use of a survey questionnaire, corroborated by information gathered from interviews with pub owners and managers. Results increase the level of knowledge about the formation of social networks and economic capital in rural Ireland, and provide valuable insights for practitioners and policy-makers about the role played by pubs within rural supply chains. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Short-term low-skilled labour migration has increased internationally during the past two decades of rapid economic growth, in response to deficiencies in local labour supply in developed countries. Ireland was one of the newer states to recruit labour internationally on a large scale from the late 1990s until the global economic downturn in 2008. Various forms of short-term migration, as well as both documented and undocumented employment, followed. This paper discusses the experience of Brazilian migrants in Ireland who assume particular interest because of being a new migration stream over a great distance, which involved relatively short sojourns in Ireland for many before returning to Brazil. Changing government work permit policies for non-European Economic Area citizens, European Union enlargement, and economic recession all contributed to reduce the opportunities for legal employment in Ireland. This paper is based on research with workers who were initially recruited for the agricultural processing sector in two small towns in western Ireland through an existing link with the province of Goiás in Brazil. The evidence differs from some other studies of international labour migration in that data collection took place in both Ireland and Brazil. It highlights in particular the vulnerability of short-term migrants to labour policies and the economy in host countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2003-2011 period in Ireland can be viewed as a roller-coaster with years of high growth followed by years of deep recession. This paper reviews developments in income and health poverty in Ireland over that period using data from the survey of income and living conditions. Income and health poverty are examined both uni-dimensionally and bi-dimensionally using sequential stochastic dominance. Conventional poverty indices are also provided and the correlation between health and income poverty is also analysed Income poverty fell up to and including 2009, after which this trend is reversed. Health poverty shows less of a trend over the period though there is some evidence of a reduction in health inequality from 2006. Movements in bi-dimensional poverty are mostly driven by income poverty, but there is evidence of a reduction in the correlation between health and income poverty over the period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]