Search results

This article explores the hypothesis of Clifford Geertz concerning the importance of essentialism (culture) and epochalism (economics) in the creation of new states. It focuses on the Irish state‐building process, examining the thought of the two leaders of the 1916 rising. It finds that Patrick Pearse throughout stressed cultural revitalization and James Connolly stressed economic/social transformation. The article lends support to Geertz’s hypothesis but notes that each leader also came to appreciate the primary concern of the other.

There exists a rich sociological literature dealing with secularisation. Such nineteenth‐century sociologists as Weber and Durkheim and twentieth‐century sociologists as Greeley, Bellah, Berger and Wilson have contributed. Berger refers to secularisation as “the process by which sectors of society and culture are removed from the domination of religious institutions and symbols”, while Wilson defines it as “the process whereby religious thinking, practices and institutions lose social significance”. These definitions represent the thrust of academic thinking about secularisation. Generally, social scientists interpret secularisation as the decline of religiosity — a movement from faith to reason. They cite numerous indicators of the change: decline in such areas as church attendance, praying, use of religious rites and rituals, recruitment to the church bureaucracy, church construction. Often they suggest a kind of inevitability relating to urbanisation and industrialisation. The focus of the process involves man becoming less concerned with the spiritual and more concerned with the mundane. Eventually, the spiritual becomes irrelevant; the Age of Enlightenment triumphs over the Age of Faith.

Reveals that Ireland has experienced six major changes in exchange rate regimes over the period 1797 to today. Provides a historical perspective on this experience. Indicates that Irish nominal variables have been affected by the exchange rate regime and that membership of exchange rate regimes has both affected and has been used to justify policies followed by the Irish government. States that, structurally, the Irish economy has undergone dramatic change, one of the reasons being government policy, which has altered the exchange rate options open to Ireland. Notes however, that continued labour market and trade linkages with the UK have implications both for the transition and membership of a future European Monetary Union.Johansen (1988) cointegration testing procedure and error correction modelling on annual data for the period 1958‐1990. These modern techniques produce empirical results which do not support the public capital hypothesis. Suggests several reasons to explain this outcome, and outlines possible policy implications.

The aim of this paper is to examine the nature of newspaper advertisements published in the Irish newspaper The Freeman's Journal. This is approached by examining the construction of a selection of printed advertisements, including the strategies used in each, which appeared in The Freeman's Journal between 1763 and 1924.

The central primary source used is The Freeman's Journal and the selected advertisements. A number of primary and secondary sources are employed in the analysis of the featured advertisements in respect to the format, language and marketing strategies used in each.

The case study finds that there were a number of constants in the advertisements examined, as well as a number of advertising strategies employed from the eighteenth century onward, that have more commonly been associated with the 1918 to 1939 interwar period. It also found that the use of illustrations did not solely depend on twentieth century printing advances, but that printing developments did much to expand and progress advertising in Ireland.

This case study explores a little researched area in Irish advertising history.

Care of older persons in their own homes has in recent years received much attention in Ireland. The proponents of domiciliary care draw on both economic and quality of life arguments, many of which are identifiable in policy documents since the 1950s. However, little detailed analysis of the evolution of the formal care services for older persons, and the shift in emphasis from institutional to domiciliary care, has been presented. The paper aims to focus on the issues.

Using archival, administrative and policy sources, the authors traced the changing nature of formal care policies in Ireland, and analysed changes in key organising principles and features, including subsidiarity, the role of the Church and the basis of entitlements (residual vs universal).

The first type of formal care to emerge was institutional, and did not adhere to the subsidiarity principle as it was mostly delivered by the State. Subsidiarity came to the fore more clearly with the establishment of the earliest home care services by religious and voluntary organisations. The current trend towards cash‐for‐care (home care packages) is arguably a modern‐day manifestation of the arm's length attitude that the subsidiarity principle recommends the State take.

The fact that care services are increasingly delivered by private sector companies and informal carers operating in the grey market increases the complexity of the care regime and therefore makes the task of developing social care regime classifications more complicated; it also means that regulation of the care sector in Ireland is a particularly urgent task that is yet to be undertaken in a comprehensive manner.

The policy challenges involved in attempts to regulate the complex care mix are considerable.

The paper utilises both historical methods and policy analysis to highlight the changing meaning of key concepts such as subsidiarity.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the status of policy design and policy implementation in the biofuel sector in Ireland. The focus of the work addresses the overarching operational context of the biofuel sector in Ireland and the role of different actors in shaping and resolving inconsistencies in policy outlook and practice.

This study used a qualitative research approach involving a series of semi-structured interviews with members of the relevant sub-groups concerned. This study sought to address two questions – whether current or proposed policy is likely to affect consumption of indigenous biofuel feedstocks in the biofuel sector and what are the controlling factors in the demand for indigenous feedstocks for biofuel.

Outcomes suggest that while Irish government policy recognises the need to support the development of renewable energy, it also operates under a number of parallel and potentially inconsistent paradigms in relation to biofuels as a renewable energy commodity. It is contended that the outcome of this position is a lack of coherent and coordinated policy in the area of biofuel production, including second generation biofuel using indigenous feedstocks.

This paper provides a new cross sectoral perspective on the status of biofuel policy in Ireland with particular reference to second generation biofuel feedstocks. It focuses analysis on the nature of policy-operational inconsistencies and the need for a deeper ecological perspective in governance.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the limitations of specific statutory support for the long‐term survival of rural based Irish work integration social enterprises (WISEs).

The paper is based on empirical research derived from a combination of qualitative and qualitative research methods which entailed a national survey of Irish social enterprises, a series of in depth interviews with the management of 13‐rural based WISES and a survey of a sample of employees across these 13 WISEs.

Empirical evidence is used to provide a profile of the characteristics of the workforce of a sample of 13 rural WISEs. The paper argues that the rural location of these WISEs along with the prescriptive nature of the statutory support they receive have combined to both create and compound these challenges which in turn are argued to restrict the long‐term survival potential of these organisations.

As there is a lack of information on Irish WISEs in general and rural‐based WISEs in particular, this paper is of value in addressing the deficit.

Ireland is increasingly becoming a knowledge economy and demands for technology skills are important requirements in this new environment. This study aimed to examine the strategic initiatives and corresponding changes in recruitment practices necessitated by the lack of availability of technology skills. The methodological strategy employed in this study involved detailed interviews with policy makers, including An Tanaiste and the Chairman of the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs. The main conclusions of the study, in relation to the response of Irish policy makers, highlight the importance of establishing a partnership approach and attracting world‐class skills to the country from abroad. The recommendations relate to an increased need for improved awareness of the upskilling process at both industry and national levels.