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In September 1868, 12-year-old Catherine Rudd was arrested for living in a 'miserably constructed shelter composed of rags and boughs' with a reputed sex worker, her widowed mother. Catherine and her siblings were sent to industrial schools, their mother to gaol. She herself had arrived in Australia alone in 1849, aged 15, an Irish Famine orphan. This new study centred on Newcastle Industrial School for Girls (New South Wales) from 1867 to 1871, reveals that close to one third of the inmates were girls born of Irish Famine refugees. This paper examines their story of destitution, discrimination and intergenerational incarceration driven by colonial policies and their Irish Famine origins., The spring and summer of 1845 in Ireland were particularly wet and humid, a circumstance that triggered one of the world's most devastating humanitarian crises, the reverberations of which are [...]

It is only within the past two decades that elder abuse has received governmental attention in Ireland. There had been little awareness, and no structures in place to tackle this problem prior to this. Media highlighting of particular cases, and an exploratory study undertaken in 1998, prompted the setting up of a governmental working group on elder abuse. Unique to this group was the trialling of a proposed system in two pilot sites. This allowed for recommendations based on actual practice, and has lead to the adoption of a network of elder abuse caseworkers, among other recommendations. KEYWORDS. Elder abuse, exploratory study, working group, pilot study, recommendations

An index of social disadvantage in the Republic of Ireland was developed to evaluate the government's intervention programs conducted to addres these issues, focusing on the geographic distribution of social needs. It was observed that the ffectiveness of the European Union'd financing and of the spatially-focused efforts of alleviating social disadvantages cannot be measured accurately using conventional indices. The usability of the new index, which us the Confirmatory Factor Analysis, is explained.

The credit for turning the Republic of Ireland into the Celtic Tiger economy of the 1990 goes with the experimentation of new forms of policy consultation and formulation and the most important being the series of social partnership agreements. Over time the social partnership agreements have expanded and the aim is to build a consensus around a wide range of economic and social policy issues that includes groups other than just the traditional peak organizations as full social partners.

Since the inception of the smoking ban in Ireland, there has been a fair amount of public controversy in terms of its potential effects on the Irish economy, the healthcare [...]

In the historiography of the criminal trial, the law regarding array challenges has received little attention. A challenge to the array involved a party objecting to the composition of the panel of potential jurors from which the trial jury would be selected. Array challenges often arose when the defendant believed that the sheriff, or other official with responsibility to select the jury, had packed the jury pool with individuals who would find the accused guilty. This article first briefly outlines jury selection procedures in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in England and Ireland, then explores the use of challenges to the array, and the reasons why this safeguard was, or was not, employed successfully. In a series of cases the judiciary ensured that the array challenge was a weak instrument for preventing packed juries. The high rates of acquittals in Irish criminal trials led officials to pack juries, especially in high profile, politically-charged cases. Defendants resisted by launching array challenges, particularly in Ireland where Roman Catholic defendants faced jury panels assembled predominantly of Protestants. For its part, the judiciary was concerned that allowing defendants to employ array challenges would stall proceedings. In addition to this efficiency concern, judges applied a remarkably inflexible approach to the law when asked to apply challenging rules to situations in which jury selection irregularities were not caused by the sheriff, but by other officials given responsibilities in the jury selection process. Dans l'historiographie de la cour d'assises, la legislation au sujet des defis au dressage des tableaux des jures n'a pas ete bien etudiee. Ce deft au dressage des tableaux des jures implique qu'une partie formule une objection a la composition de la liste des jures potentiels d'ou on tirerait le jury pour le proces. Ces defis au dressage des tableaux s'elevaient souvent lorsque l'accuse croyait que le sherif ou autre officiel charge de la responsabilite de choisir le jury n'avait choisi que des jures qui le trouveraient surement coupable. Dans cet article, nous passons d'abord brievement en revue les procedures de selection de jury en Angleterre et en Irlande aux dix-huitieme et debut du dix-neuvieme siecles. Ensuite, nous examinons l'emploi du defi au dressage du tableau des jures et les raisons pourquoi cette saufegarde etait, ou n'etait pas, employee avec succes. Dans une serie de proces, la magistrature s'assura que le defi au dressage du tableau des jures fut un faible instrument dans le but de prevenir des jurys partisans. Le taux eleve d'acquittement dans les proces criminels irlandais mena les officiels a former des jurys partisans particulierement dans les proces politiques de haut profil. Les accuses demontraient leur resistance en lancant des defis au dressage du tableau des jures, particulierement en Irlande ou les catholiques faisaient face a une liste de jures qui etaient essentiellement des protestants. De son cote, la magistrature s'inquietait que de permettre aux accuses d'invoquer le defi au dressage du tableau des jures retarderait le proces. En plus de cette inquietude au bon fonctionnement, les juges appliquaient une approche extremement rigide a la loi lorsqu'on leur demandait d'imposer des reglements difficiles a des situations ou des irregularites dans la selection du jury n'avaient pas ete causees par le sherif mais par d'autres officiels responsables du processus de selection du jury., The western criminal trial took its modern form during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Historians have explored the changes in the criminal trial during this important period, but several [...]

Issues concerning social work are discussed with emphasis on the situation in Ireland. The influence of the media especially on the topic of child abuse is described and suggestions for the future role of social work in the country are presented.

A home-based parent training program has been developed that includes instruction in time-out techniques to deal with behavior disorders in children. Effectiveness was assessed during training by direct observations of child and parent behavior and were found to maintain at a 3-month follow-up session.

Behavior analysis has been shown to be effective in treating sleep problems and providing a structure for antioppressive social work. This social work intervention included positive reinforcement, parent training, and a collaborative approach between the social worker and the child's mother.

In 1997 the Irish government adopted the National Anti-Poverty Strategy (NAPS), a global target for the reduction of poverty which illuminates a range of issues relating to official poverty targets. The Irish target is flamed in terms of a relative poverty measure incorporating both relative income and direct measures of deprivation based on data on the extent of poverty from 1994. Since 1994 Ireland has experienced an unprecedented period of economic growth that makes it particularly important to assess whether the target has been achieved, but in doing so we cannot avoid asking some underlying questions about how poverty should be measured and monitored over time. After briefly outlining the nature of the NAPS measure, this article examines trends in poverty in Ireland between 1987 and 1997. Results show that the relative income and deprivation components of the NAPS measure reveal differential trends with increasing relative income poverty, but decreasing deprivation. However, this differential could be due to the fact that the direct measures of deprivation upon which NAPS is based have not been updated to take account of changes in real living standards and increasing expectations. To test whether this is so, we examine the extent to which expectations about living standards and the structure of deprivation have changed over time using confirmatory factor analysis and tests of criterion validity using different definitions of deprivation. Results show that the combined income and deprivation measure, as originally constituted, continues to identify a set of households experiencing generalised deprivation resulting from a lack of resources.

This article examines Irish concerns about the migration of unmarried mothers to England in the years after the setting up of the Irish Free State in 1922 until the early 1970s. The nature of these concerns and associated moves to facilitate the repatriation of unmarried mothers will be critically discussed. In this context, the annual reports of the Child Protection and Rescue Society of Ireland and official reports produced by the Irish government provide valuable documentary sources. The article suggests that coercive and punitive policies introduced to classify and regulate unmarried mothers were factors prompting the migrations. Particularly significant here was the lengthy period of time these women were expected to remain in Mother and Baby Homes in Ireland.

The ways in which issues on abortion and national identity were constructed and reproduced by the X case in the Republic of Ireland in 1992 are discussed. The case involved the Irish High court's decision preventing a 14-year-old rape victim and her parents to travel to the UK to have an abortion. Ireland's policy on abortion shifted from an established traditional position towards a more liberal one due to the questions raised by the X case regarding women's citizenship status and position in relation to the state.

Objectives. This paper describes how Ireland created a level playing field for competition in health insurance, the strategies of a major insurer to introduce risk-rated policies that would segment the market, the successful campaign to block these policies, and the policy implications of the European Union requirement of competition in health insurance. Methods. Policy documents, interviews, and press reports were analyzed. Results. The minister of health forced the commercial insurer to withdraw its policies and replace them with community-rated policies. Conclusions. Because it is easier and more profitable for insurers to engage in risk selection than to become more efficient, beneficial competition in health insurance markets is extremely difficult to create. Carefully drawn rules and monitoring are required to overcome inherent causes of market failure. The current enthusiasm for saving money through competitive schemes in health insurance seems likely to produce higher costs and greater inequality. (Am J Public Health. 1998;88:745-748)

The concept of feminism focuses on the impact of nationalism on women's movements in Ireland during the early part of the 20th century. The emergence of Irish suffragists in this period gave feminism a strong ground on national and international issues. However, the complexities of feminist issues have raised questions concerning loyalty and party allegiances, taking into context the incompatibility of the rights of women and the rights of the nation as a whole.

An exploratory, focus group methodology was used to elicit the views of public health nurses (PHNs) on the topic of child welfare and protection in the context of new legislation and evolving child care policy in Ireland. The nurses' views were considerably at variance with the officially stated commitment to inter-disciplinary collaboration and coordination within the Community Care Programmes of Ireland's regional health boards. The PHNs feared that involvement in child care proceedings of a social control or adversarial nature would compromise them in terms of their traditional curative and preventive health roles, and, on this basis, argued that social workers should retain the bulk, if not all, of the responsibility for such child care activity. The nurses also defined their work roles in terms of their own traditional, professional commitment to individuals, families and communities, and felt less bound by or even aware of the corporate responsibility of their employing health board. It is concluded that the enactment of new legislation and allocation of additional resources do not resolve the issues of inter-disciplinary collaboration in this area. Key words - public health nurses, community care, child protection, social workers, child welfare

Elder abuse in Ireland has yet to receive official recognition. There are no specific social policies to counter the violence against the aged. Community services and self-help programs that teach the victims to be more assertive in their claims have had some success in this field. Unemployment among youth and emigration to urban areas in search of jobs has resulted in the social isolation of the elderly. The response to the problem of elder abuse must be developed within a framework of socio-cultural, political and social environment.

The religious and state abortion policies which are different in Poland, Ireland and the US encourage male dominance over women's sexuality and reproductive capacities, thereby relegating women to second class citizenship. In Ireland and Poland, the church plays a dominant role in state policies, including abortion, and in the US, though the church is separated from the state and abortion is legal, the courts have yielded to the pressures of religious groups who oppose abortion, showing that in all three countries, women have little freedom to control their sexual and reproductive functions. Feminists have not argued for abortion in terms of human rights, but prefer women to be voluntary rather than involuntary mothers. It would be effective if feminists campaigned for women's reproductive freedom in the name of human rights.

THOUGH the question of abortion arrived late on the political agenda in the Republic of Ireland, it had been anticipated as a major issue since the late 1960s when conservative [...]

People on low incomes who have free access to medical care use medical services more than those who pay for such care, after other factors have been taken into account, according to a study of Irish households. An implication of this finding is that the public could be encouraged to use primary health care rather than hospital care, which costs more, through making primary care free. Further work needs to be carried out on the effectiveness of primary care in order to assess whether this would be appropriate.

Secondary education in Ireland has expanded steadily in the 20th century, with a big surge in the late 1960s. In 1967, tuition fees for secondary education were removed and other egalitarian reforms were implemented. This article analyzes the changes in the effect of social origin on educational transitions for the 1908-56 birth cohorts. The results show that overall class differences in educational attainment declined, but class barriers were not removed; they simply became less consequential because the educational system expanded to the point where it could afford to be less selective. The results lead to the hypothesis of maximally maintained inequality and an explanation of it in terms of rational choice. The 1967 reforms appear to have had no effect on equality of educational opportunity. A closer study of the economic incentives for education at that time suggests why and suggests alternative reforms that might have been more effective without costing more money.

Women's studies is a relatively recent development in the realm of highereducation in the Republic of Ireland. The historical development of women's studies in the country had been discussed in the context of the women's labor movement. Analysis of the discipline showed that the institutionalization and development of women's studies in the country was initially made difficult by inadequate allocation of funds and resources. Recommendations to fully establish women's studies as an academic discipline and integrate it in both graduate and undergraduate studies have been presented.

Irish media policy's aims have changed from fostering an autonomous state founded on traditional Catholic values to developing a more democratic, more commercial and less protected broadcasting community. Irish broadcasting started in the public sector and was tied to the government's desire to promote Irish culture after independence from Britain. The influx of foreign television programs beginning in the 1960s, the advent of indigenous commercial television in the 1970s, the changing dynamics of rural and urban politics and new public demands transformed Irish broadcasting's mission.