Search

本稿は民主主義論を通し、参議院及び参議院改革が如何に捉えられるか定性的に明らかにしたものである。近代以降の民主主義論を概観し、具体的には競争的民主主義論、参加民主主義論、ポリアーキー型デモクラシー、多数決型・コンセンサス型デモクラシー及び熟議民主主義論の考え方を明らかにしている。その上で、民主主義論と参議院との関係性を捉えている。また参議院改革の歴史を踏まえることで、参議院の位置づけが競争的民主主義とは非整合的であることを確認している。民主主義論及び参議院改革の経緯を概観した結果、今後の参議院改革の方向性を考えるなら、運用レベルの改革というより、抜本的な改革を伴う選挙制度改革であるといえる。改革の方向性としては多様な民意を反映する、衆議院とは異なる選挙制度を模索するものであると考えられるだろう。, This paper reveals how the House of Councilors and the Upper House reform are perceived qualitatively through democratic theories. The democratic theories, after modernization, are surveyed, for the view of the competitive ones. In the same survey pattern, the participatory, polyarchy type, the majority and consensus type, and the deliberative democratic theories are specifically examined. Moreover, the relationship between democratic theories and the House of Councilors is argued. In addition, it has been checked that competitive democracy has un-suitable position in the House of Councilors, based on the Upper House reform history. As a result of surveying, the circumstances of democratic theories and the Upper House reform, if the directivity of the future Upper House reform is considered, can be stated as an electoral reform, accompanied by a radical reform rather than a parliamentary operation level one. Regarding the directionality of Upper House reform, it is thought that reflecting various public opinions, aims to a different election system compared with the House of Representative., 論説(Article)

Barrington Lecture read before the Society, September 13th, 2009, This paper examines the health and well-being of the Irish population in the late 20th century, the period popularly referred to as the Celtic Tiger. This period saw unprecedented increases in economic activity in Ireland. Using statistical data from administrative and survey sources, I examine whether this period of growth improved well-being and welfare in Ireland. The paper draws from theories of the development of societies such as those of Fogel and Easterlin, as well as theories from behavioural economics and econometric techniques to examine this question. In particular, I examine the extent to which Ireland fits into a pattern of declining correlation between GDP and well-being at later stages of development, a phenomenon known as the Easterlin Paradox. I also examine the extent to which individual well-being is predicted by income as compared to other aspects of welfare such as health and employment status.

read before the Society, January 20th, 2009, The annual amount of the state subsidy to occupational and private pensions in Ireland is double that previously believed and is of the same order as the total annual payments under the state flat-rate contributory and non-contributory pension schemes. We ask: does the state get value-for-money from these subsidies? To answer the question we introduce the fair value approach to value pension entitlements. The current regulatory regime is shown to be very weak, with the security of pension entitlements of those in private sector employment below that of investment grade debt (so the pension promise if tradeable would have junk status). We suggest and analyse measures to improve members` security. We recommend that an explicit percentage of the fair value of pension entitlements be made a debt on the sponsoring employer and that there should be regular disclosure to members of the level of security backing their pension entitlement. The former only gives a minor increase in security in an Irish context but the latter incentivises members to make other provision for their retirement. We conclude by suggesting that the state has a larger role to play in pension provision in Ireland in the 21st century than it played in the last century.

Proceedings of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland - one hundred and sixty-second session: 2008/2009, The first meeting of the Society was held at 6:00pm on Thursday 2nd October 2008 in the Royal Irish Academy, Dawson Street, Dublin. The President, Dr Donal de Buitleir, was in the Chair, and he held the first of two required votes on the proposed amendments to the Society`s Laws and Constitution.

read before the Society, December 11th, 2008, Only a few research papers have analysed the spatial distribution of economic activity in Ireland. There are a number of reasons for this, not least the fact that comprehensive data on the location of economic activity by sector across all sectors has not been available at the highly disaggregated spatial level. This paper firstly establishes the geographic distribution of employment at the 2 digit NACE level, using a novel approach that utilises a special tabulation from the CSO 2006 Census of Population Place of Work Anonymised Records (POWCAR). It then analyses the spatial patterns of this distribution using maps and more formal methods such measures of spatial concentration and tests for spatial autocorrelation. The paper considers the locational preferences of individual sectors, the degree to which specific sectors agglomerate and co-agglomerate, and thus will uncover urbanisation effects and differences across urban and rural areas regarding economic activity.

read before the Society, April 22nd, 2009, Government population projections are typically underpinned by a set of assumptions based on what has happened in the past, informed by expert opinion on what the future holds. The assumptions made are inevitably subject to uncertainty e.g. trends may change unexpectedly. This seminar considers sources of uncertainty in recent population projections for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, both national and sub-national. Past experience with population projections is examined to illustrate the effects of changing trends and economic circumstances. The seminar then looks at sources of uncertainty in the most recent 2006-based projections. The concluding remarks discuss the management of uncertainty.

read before the Society April 30th, 2009, HealthStat is a tool for measuring the performance of the Irish public health service. It consists of a data collection process, the production of performance statistics in graphical dashboard format and a monthly accountability forum that invites a rotating selection of service delivery units. HealthStat ran in pilot phase throughout 2008. Performance dashboards for 29 general and regional hospitals were first published in the public domain on 23rd March 2009. HealthStat will extend to all remaining hospitals and to community health and social care services during 2009. This paper describes, from a health information perspective, the background to HealthStat, the challenges faced and the way ahead.

read before the Society, October 2nd, 2008, Most family businesses are small, engage less than 10 persons and trade in the more traditional industries, such as the distributive trades or hospitality industries. Family businesses export less product, generate a lower proportion of their turnover from Internet sales and typically have a lower Gross Value Added (GVA) per employee than non-family businesses. Nevertheless, these family businesses make a significant contribution to the services sector, accounting for more than 46% of all non-financial traded services enterprises. They are almost exclusively Irish owned, employ over a quarter of a million persons and account for 40% of all persons engaged. In 2005, family businesses in the services sectors generated an aggregate turnover in excess of ?49 billion. Yet according to international studies these family businesses have in or around a 60% probability of failure as they transfer from first to second generation ownership, potentially putting thousands of jobs at risk.

Barrington Lecture 2007/08, read before the Society, 29 May 2008, In this paper we represent structural unemployment by relating observed unemployment to wage inflation. An estimated series for the non-accelerating wage rate of unemployment (NAWRU) shows that the unemployment gap between observed unemployment and the structural rate provides a good reflection of prevailing aggregate demand conditions and indicates that our estimated NAWRU series is a good measure of the Irish structural unemployment situation. The estimated NAWRU was at a high level throughout the 1980s and declined over time such that any excess labour slack was dissipated by the mid-1990s. Between 1994 and 2001 we report that the observed unemployment rate was below our estimated NAWRU indicating that the substantial inflationary pressure on wages was justified for this period. Very recently, the gap between our estimate of the structural rate and observed rates of unemployment is not very substantial and reflects a healthier situation vis-a-vis wage inflationary pressures which are supported by inward migration and productivity increases becoming embedded in our economy.

read before the Society, 22 May 2008, Developing policy and delivering services to people with disabilities is an important aspect of our society. As with all areas of policy and service provision, accurate, timely and reliable data are fundamental to the setting, monitoring and examination of that provision. Market and non-market service providers, advocacy groups and the general population seek increasingly detailed data on the prevalence, nature, severity and life circumstances of those people in our society who experience disability. However, disability is complex and difficult to measure. Whilst most people 'know' what disability means there is little consensus as to a complete but concise definition of the concept that could be employed in censuses, surveys or other data and research instruments. This paper explores the recent experience of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency in defining, identifying and surveying this seemingly growing group in our society. Previous survey instruments as well as current international models are examined. Experiences of surveying in the usual arena of the household are compared with the survey process experienced in communal establishments such as long-stay hospital wards and care homes. The key results from analyses to date are also highlighted.

read before the Society, 24 January 2008, In the first half of this paper I summarise the trend in Irish deaths rates over the period 1973-2006. In the second half I discuss some possible explanations of these trends.

read before the Society, 3 April 2008, This paper presents new environmental accounts for the Republic of Ireland from 1990-2005. Designed to be consistent with the national accounts, these satellite accounts cover 34 emissions and 14 resources for 19 production sectors plus households. Emissions include greenhouse gases, eutrophying and acidifying emissions, and three types of waste each divided into four dispositions. We find that some emissions such as halocarbons and carbon dioxide have grown rapidly over the period, although the main greenhouse gas emissions have grown less quickly than economic activity. Energy use as a whole has also increased. However, other emissions have declined, such as nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide.

read before the Society, 25 October 2007, In the last decade Irish innovation policy has been focused on Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This paper explores the effects of HEIs, in the context of interaction with other interaction agents, on the innovation output of Irish high-technology businesses. Based on a survey of 184 businesses in the Chemical and Pharmaceutical, Information and Communications Technology and Engineering and Electronic Devices sectors, the paper estimates the importance of in-house R&D activity and external interaction with HEIs, support agencies and other businesses for product and process innovation. A key finding is that the greater the frequency of direct interaction with HEIs the lower the probability of both product and process innovation in these businesses. There is some evidence of a positive indirect HEI effect, through complementarities of interactions with suppliers and support agencies. However, while external interaction is important for innovation output, there is little evidence that geographical proximity matters. These findings have important implications for Irish innovation policy. Last year`s Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation: 2006 to 2013 committed an additional ?1.88 billion for research and commercialisation programmes in HEIs. The econometric results presented suggest that this substantial public investment in HEIs may have a disappointing, and perhaps even a negative, effect on the innovation output of Irish business, thus undermining future Irish prosperity. In addition, the absence of evidence supporting the existence of Irish clusters and networks for innovation suggests that policymakers long-standing support for these have been misguided. The paper concludes by advocating that innovation is a business rather than a technological phenomenon and argues for a changed role for HEIs to one of responding to innovative businesses.

read before the Society, 26 February 2008, Along with physical activity, diet is the key factor that affects your weight. Having a healthy weight for your height is important as being overweight or obese increases the risk of medical conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. Very little is known about the diet of Irish households and its pattern of change. This paper reviews sources of information and highlights an overlooked source, the Central Statistics Office`s Household Budget Survey (HBS). This study expands the use of the information collected from households that participated in the Irish 1999-2000 HBS. The detailed descriptions (including weight and volume data) on the receipts that the households received when they purchased food items were identified as an important new source of information on the nutritional value of this food. This study shows that the food purchased by households in the State, in the period 1999-2000, provided, on average, a calorific value 16% higher than the recommended level of 2,500 calories per day.

Proceedings of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland - one hundred and sixty-first session: 2007/2008, The first meeting of the Society was held in the Royal Irish Academy, on Thursday, 25th October 2007, at 6:00 pm. The President, Dr. Donal de Buitleir, was in the Chair.

Read before the Society, 24 January 2008, The aim of this study is to examine changing patterns of morbidity (and healthcare utilisation) in Ireland and consider the impact of these changing patterns on the need for health services using health insurance data. This analysis is set in the context of a corresponding significant reduction in mortality rates over the period. Using inpatient hospital data from a large health insurer, which covers nearly 40% of the population, the changing pattern of morbidity is analysed by age, gender, and geographic area of residence for the years 1996-2006. Morbidity is measured using the International Classification of Diseases standard - Version 9 (ICD). The analysis shows that despite an improvement in mortality, not only has the rate of hospitalisations not correspondingly reduced but also the morbidity rates of the population have not reduced. The results confirm that the population is receiving more medical treatment than before even though mortality has improved. This may be as a result of better access to health services, a worse incidence of ill-health within population, better detection of illness or a combination of all of the above. Either way the changing utilisation pattern suggests that in establishing a policy for resource allocation for health services many factors need to be considered, many of which are not measurable and confirms that increasing life expectancy may come at a significant economic cost in terms of the increased resources that may be needed in the health system.

read before the Society, 22 November 2007, Total and per child spending on child income supports are at high levels, and so are child poverty and the proportion of children being reared in jobless households. While the role of child income supports in alleviating child poverty should not be exaggerated, it can be improved. Most of the per child support received by low income families now takes the form of universal payments. These create no employment disincentive but, by giving almost one euro to families in the top half of the income distribution for each euro going to the bottom half, effectively accord child poverty a low priority. There has been a long interest in a new form of targeting that would enable priority be given families on the basis of low income alone, create no employment disincentive and be slowly withdrawn as family income rises. The principal difficulties in paying what would, in effect, be a supplement to Child Benefit but received only by low income families are administrative. Identifying 'family income` and delivering support to parents in work and those reliant on social welfare smoothly and equitably will entail significant innovations in the public administrative system. The requisite steps are identified in this paper. It should also be appreciated that achieving the necessary retooling of data and delivery systems would allow the new form of targeting to be applied to other supports as well (e.g., childcare subventions).

Presidential address read before the Society, 31 May 2007, The paper looks at the changes which have been occurring in trends relating to marriage, fertility, and the family in Ireland. Cohabitation is increasing with one in four couples without children now falling into this category. On the other hand, marriage is occurring at older ages although there is evidence of a stabilisation of the decline in the probability of females marrying for the first time. The increase in the average age at which females are having their first child is consistent with later marriages while the narrowing of the differential between the average ages for different birth orders suggests that the spacing of children is now concentrated over a shorter period of time than heretofore. While the predominant family type still consists of husbands and wives and their children, the growth in the number of couples without children clearly reflects a lifestyle choice on the part of certain couples. The increase in the number of usual residents of this country who were born abroad has begun to impact on the make up of the family in Ireland. One of the fastest growing categories has been children born in this country to parents, both of whom were born outside Ireland and the UK. It is clear from the information presented in the paper that Ireland is experiencing major demographic change at present.

Read the 16th May 2007, The journals of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland provide a remarkable record of both the events and the ideas of the past 160 years. They relate mainly to Ireland but they reflect the views and enthusiasms that swept through Britain, Europe and the rest of the world.

Read before the Society, 19 April 2007, This article outlines the recommendations of the UK Pensions Commission, and the data and analysis on which they were based, including projections of demographic change, trends in private pension saving, and evolution of the state pension system. The Commission concluded that without reform, structural problems with UK pensions would lead to increasingly inadequate and inequitable provision in 15-20 years time. It recommended reforms which would lead to a more generous, more universal and less means-tested state system than would otherwise evolve, and the establishment of a low cost National Pension Savings Scheme, into which employees without good employer provision would automatically be enrolled. The proposals, now largely being implemented, imply eventual increases both in state spending on pensions as a share of national income and in State Pension Age, but accompanied by measures to facilitate later and more flexible retirement.

Proceedings of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland - one hundred and sixtieth session: 2006/2007, The first meeting of the session was held in the Royal Irish Academy, on Thursday, 19th October 2006, at 6:30 pm. The President, Aidan Punch, was in the Chair when Mr. Jerry Sexton presented a paper entitled, A Review of Recent Trends in Output, Employment, and Productivity in Ireland.

Barrington Lecture 2006/07, read before the Society, 30 November 2006, Central Applications Office (CAO) application data is analysed using a data mining technique, association rule mining, to investigate relationships between course choices across applicants. The role of gender as a factor in course selection is examined as well as a larger question around the functionality of the application system ? what attracts students to a course; is it a topic of interest or is it the perceived status of the course associated with high entry points? The expected gender imbalances in areas like primary teaching and engineering appear, along with some others. Association rules generated suggest that students select courses based primarily on topic but sometimes with geographical location in mind. No evidence is found to suggest that students are selecting courses based on points status. Further in-depth analysis was carried out on two subgroups of students ? those who applied for at least one medicine course and those who applied for at least one law course. Once again, the resulting association rules give little or no evidence that applicants are selecting courses based on points status.

Read before the Society, 21 June 2007, The Irish Public Service has been relatively strong historically in the area of policy formulation. I have come to the conclusion, however, that we are relatively weak when it comes to implementation and many good policies fail due to a lack of appropriate structures and processes to ensure their successful implementation from policy objectives to tangible outcomes. This paper outlines the role of the Office of the Minister for Children (OMC), which is seeking to overcome that difficulty and bring about more effective implementation of services and interventions for children through cross-Departmental and cross?sectoral working.

Read before the Society, 11 October 2006, This paper reviews real output, employment and productivity trends in the Irish economy over the ten year period from 1995 to 2005. The analyses, which are carried out within the framework of the CSO Annual National Accounts, extend across the entire economy. An important feature of the paper is the provision of estimated trend measures for different sectors, which entails an extension of the limited number of categories usually shown in the National Accounts statistics. As the measurement of volume or real economic output is the subject of ongoing discussion and debate at international level, it was considered appropriate to include a section which highlights some of the main methodological and conceptual problems involved, and how these are dealt with. Productivity trends, which are currently the subject of much debate, are analysed in some detail. These results reaffirm that productivity growth in the economy has faltered noticeably in recent years, due not only to declining productivity levels in some sectors (e.g. building and construction), but also due to ongoing changes in the sectoral composition of the economy. The paper also compares the recent output, employment and productivity performance of the Irish economy with the trends in the European Union and in the US. Finally, the paper reviews some policy options for the future, drawing particular attention to the consequences arising from declining productivity and the concentration of growth in a limited number of areas. The identification of possible areas which would underpin sustainable economic growth in the future is also discussed.

Read before the Society, 16 May 2007, The availability of high quality statistical data on economic and social conditions is a fundamental prerequisite for ensuring an effective partnership between policy makers and academic researchers in contributing to the development and monitoring of public policy. The increased focus on Evidence-based Policy Making in recent years has highlighted the need for such partnerships and also for the development of the official statistics system to provide the basic raw material.

Read before the Society, 16 May 2007, This symposium celebrates the launch of a dedicated website of the proceedings of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland, and its direct ancestor the Dublin Statistical Society. The Dublin Statistical Society was founded on 23 November 1847 with the mission to bring professional expertise to bear on pressing contemporary social and economic issues. The timing is not coincidental: 1847 was probably the worst year in the history of modern Ireland. This was the beginning of the third year of the great famine; death and emigration were at record levels, as was the incidence of disease. The British government was suffering from `compassion fatigue?; they had ended all special measures for famine relief and abandoned Ireland to its own resources, placing the entire burden of relief on the inadequate and inexperienced Irish Poor Law, which was breaking down under the strain. Landlords, faced with record rates bills and unpaid rents were evicting tenants and clearing their estates, and the emigrant ships contained not just the destitute and desperate, but many substantial farmers with their families. An international financial crisis only added to the gloom. Irish politics was also in disarray, following the death of Daniel O?Connell and the collapse of the Irish Convention which had attempted to achieve some political consensus on critical issues such as land reform.

read before the Society, 1 March 2007, The 2000?2005 period was a turbulent one for the tourism industry. Yet despite shocks like September 11 and the outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease, domestic tourism has not only survived but also apparently thrived, with a nominal growth in trips and expenditure of 31% and 65% respectively. This paper attempts to put this increase in domestic tourism into perspective and examine some of the driving forces behind the growth, such as population, immigration, employment, income and price. The paper also highlights structural changes occurring on the supply side, such as the decline of the B&B sector and the emergence of holiday homes as an important sector. It also demonstrates the magnetic pull of the Greater Dublin Area on business tourism and highlights the differing tourism patterns associated with different age groups or whether children are involved or not. It is also argued that domestic tourism is less vulnerable to external shocks than inbound and outbound tourism and advocates that same day visits are perhaps far more important to domestic and national tourism than previously realised.

Read before the Society, 16 May 2007, The Irish Civil Service, probably like a lot of workplaces, has changed almost beyond recognition in the past 35 years. In the 1970s, almost all internal communication was in writing and it was commonplace for the views of each officer handling a case file to be recorded in writing and every file proceeded through the hierarchical structure until it reached the level appropriate to the decision which needed to be made. At each stage of the process, submissions were corrected and re-drafted before transmission to the next level. It was through this process of correction and refinement that junior officers learned the right and wrong ways of doing things. My contact in those days with my Assistant Secretary or Secretary-General was non-existent. That much of these processes have changed in the intervening years is a consequence of advances in technology and the new work practices that have resulted.

Read before the Society, 1 February 2007, This paper argues that Ireland?s housing problems stem in part from a particular philosophical orientation which supports the ?commodification? of housing and gives strong encouragement to private market provision of housing for sale, for rent and capital gain and less attention to housing need. The paper examines the extent and causes of house price increases over the last decade, it draws comparisons with a number of other indices and concludes that housing in Ireland is over-valued/over-priced. A number of other indicators suggest that many new and aspiring house buyers are experiencing problems of affordability and other difficulties. Increased housing debt is a matter of serious concern. The structure of the private rental sector is examined and legislation introduced in 2004 to deal with the problems experienced by tenants is assessed. The paper also provides a preliminary evaluation of the work of the newly-established Private Residential Tenancies Board. The extent of ?housing need? is examined as well as the record of social housing provision, including provision for a number of marginalised groups and by means of the private rented sector. The rationale for selling social housing at a discount while buying such housing at market prices is examined. A number of key principles and policy recommendations are suggested.

Read before the Society, 16 May 2007, The title of this Academic Symposium comes from a paper read before Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland on Thursday, 14th January 1897, which refers to ?the grievances of prejudiced patriots or the dreams of statisticians? (Synnott, 1897). The organisers of this Symposium felt that the phrase sums up the varied nature of the Journal of the Statistical and Social Society of Ireland which we celebrate today and the aspirations of the distinguished authors who have contributed to the Journal over the past 160 years. The Society?s new webpages are just about to go live. From these you may link directly into the Current Journal and to the Archive on the web ? the complete collection of all papers published from 1848 to date. That includes over 1,300 papers. They are not particularly clean copies ? with there being annotations, signatures, marks of all kinds, evidence of the attention of many readers over the years. The papers digitised for this project came from bound volumes held in the Economic and Social Research Institute and in the Central Statistics Office. Trinity?s Library, with the careful supervision of its Conservation Department, allowed any gaps in the collection to be filled in. So we now have a complete set ? preserved and made available through an open access repository. The papers were individually catalogued to TCD Library standards.

Read before the Society, 7th April 2006, The Republic of Ireland has been the fastest growing economy in the OECD over the latter half of the 1990?s, an expansion known as the Celtic Tiger. Some commentators have commented on the gains from the boom being concentrated amongst the top of the income distribution. In this paper we shall try to understand what has happened to inequality over the period 1987-2004 and to understand the determinants of the changes in inequality.

Read before the Society, 6 April 2006, An evaluation of recipient countries? experience with foreign aid in the 1980s and 90s shows that there is plenty of evidence that policy conditionality has by and large failed, and that there is no evidence that the policy conditions attached to aid have by and large been appropriate. In that light, is the currently advocated move in aid allocation away from policy conditionality and towards selectivity and recipient ownership of its reform programme therefore appropriate? The paper argues that the evidence on aid effectiveness in the 1980s and 90s suggests otherwise.

Read before the Society, 24 November 2005, The concept and term `social capital? has enjoyed widespread currency in recent years not least in Ireland where it has emerged prominently in public policy debates (NESF, 2003). Claims have frequently been advanced that social capital is declining as people have less time to volunteer and be engaged in their local communities (Bohan, 2002). However, there is very limited evidence to support or reject these claims in the case of Ireland given the paucity of data, over time, on key aspects of social capital.

Read before the Society, 27 April 2006, The compulsory registration of births and deaths was established throughout most European countries during the 19th century. Enabling legislation was introduced for Ireland in 1863 with the first registration report produced in 1864. Mortality data are derived from the medical certification of cause of death issued by the medical practitioner together with information given to the registrar by the informant. These data fulfil the primary role of legal documentation and secondly provide a source of vital statistics on the population. For the last century such data have formed the cornerstone of our understanding of the health status of the population and of the health needs of society, but now at the start of the 21st century it is perhaps opportune to look at their current utility and possible value in future years. The legal requirement for registration remains unchanged but the question that this paper addresses is `in an aging society, where the exact cause of death is more difficult to discern - what is the future for mortality statistics??

Read before the Society, 23 March 2006, This paper analyses the history and key provisions of the Restrictive Practices (Groceries Order) since its inception in 1956 and demonstrates how the most recent incarnation of the Order in 1987 was fundamentally different from its predecessors. The Paper concludes that the provisions of the 1987 Order were self-defeating and contradictory, and, because they re-introduced a form of resale price maintenance into the grocery trade, represented a reversal of Government policy of the previous 30 years and served only to encourage rather than prevent anti-competitive pricing. Statistical and economic evidence is used to demonstrate how the Order eliminated price competition from the trade and encouraged vertical integration between suppliers and retailers that resulted in increased market concentration. In this way, the paper establishes a chain of cause and effect between the Order and higher grocery prices in Ireland. The evidence also points to the fact that the Order was incapable of achieving any of its stated objectives ? including those of protecting suppliers from the buying power of large multiple retailers and guaranteeing the continued existence of small independent grocers. The conclusion is drawn, based on an analysis of market trends and structures, that the Irish grocery trade is segmented in two niche markets serving respectively the convenience and ?one-stop? customer and that there is no reason to believe that revoking the Order will damage competition or result in any consumer detriment.

Read before the Society, 17 November 2004, Ireland, in employment terms, is the most FDI-intensive economy in the EU. International comparisons of trends and levels of FDI intensity are usually based on balance-of-payments data however, and the international data series on Ireland?s inward FDI tell hugely conflicting stories. Such series are published by the IMF, UNCTAD, OECD and Eurostat (with data generally provided either by the CSO or the IDA), while data on US FDI in Ireland are published by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. The present paper documents these conflicting stories and searches for any underlying consistency through analysis of the items that the various databases include and exclude. FDI stock, flow and sectoral allocation data are explored and trends contrasted with what is known from MNC employment data.