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The political background to and social impact of Ireland's "economic bailout"
Abstract
Since achieving independence from the United Kingdom, the Irish State's ability to develop economic policies that address all of the requirements of a peripheral European nation has been met with many failures. The reasons for these are complex, but one overriding issue is prevalent throughout modern Irish history. The self-interest of the ruling elite which have held power has always been prioritized over the requirements of the wider public. This chapter will examine the social, political and economic issues that underpin the current phase of recession and austerity in the Republic of Ireland. It will do so by charting the literature, which covers the early years of the Irish State, right through to the observations of commentators who witnessed the events which surrounded the collapse of the Irish financial sector in 2008. The chapter will also examine the social impacts of the policies which have been developed to address Ireland's unbalanced economic performance over time.
Ireland's economic development not only provided many benefits but also caused difficulties locally and nationally. The economic crash and bailout, which occurred from 2008, have mired the country with huge debts. In addition, development created many environmental challenges in rural, suburban and urban areas. This chapter will examine community responses to those environmental challenges, discussing the mobilisation of the environmental campaigns that shaped the emergence of the Irish environmental movement.
This article examines neo-corporatist arrangements for governance of homeless services in Dublin, which are modelled on parallel arrangements for the negotiation of economic and social policy nationally. It reveals that these two policy making structures have achieved similar outcomes - policies which are neo-liberal in orientation, but not entirely so. Achieving the aims of this unusual marriage of corporatism and neo-liberalism necessitated the redefinition of the causes of and solutions to homelessness from the structuralist to the individualist and the incorporation of formerly independent third sector service providers into the influence of the state. This process has been opposed by some third sector groups but supported by others who see opportunities in these reforms for their organizations. The outcomes of this process have been largely positive - levels of homelessness have fallen for instance - but not entirely so. Lack of attention to tackling the structural causes of homelessness has led to under provision of long-term accommodation for homeless people, while overemphasis on its individual causes and consequently on controlling the behaviour of service users has excluded some `challenging' clients from access to services.