Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Saint Patrick's Way: A North-South Camino, Anto Kerins

Reports / Surveys

The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar, TD, has set up a review of tourism policy and requested submissions from stakeholders (see Appendix 1 and 2). This submission proposes that the government should encourage the planning, design and development of a North-South Saint Patrick Way pilgrim walk, similar to the Camino in Spain, in partnership with the relevant Northern Ireland authorities. This development will make an important impact in economic and tourism terms, but also in other ways. The submission outlines the relationship between tourism and pilgrimage and discusses the international ‘gold standard’ of pilgrim walks, the Camino …

Formations Of The Sikh Community In Ireland, Satwinder Singh

Masters

This dissertation examines the formation of the Sikh community in Ireland by providing a brief historical account of the migration of Sikhs to Ireland, as well as by offering a discussion of the key challenges faced in Ireland by Sikh migrants along with their responses to these particular socio-cultural and political contexts in attempting to forge a ‘community’ in Ireland. The research draws extensively upon an oral history and photography project entitled A Sikh Face in Ireland that was commissioned by, and carried out through, the Forum on Migration and Communications (FOMACS) between 2007-2010. The interviews I conducted during this …

Bricks & Mortar: Tax Policy Swings To Those Who Rent Homes, Tom Dunne

Articles

A major change in Ireland in recent years has been the rapid fall in home ownership, down from 75pc of households in 2006 to 70pc at present.

This brings Ireland more into line with home ownership rates in the US and UK, lower than those of southern Europe but higher than the prosperous economies of northern Europe where long-term renting is very common.

In the public mind, however, this lower level of owner occupancy is seen as temporary and symptomatic of a distressed economy where buyers have difficulty obtaining mortgages and in any event are content to stand off a …

Interfaith: One Size Fits All?, Alan J. Hilliard

Conference Papers

Interfaith: one Shoe Size Fits All?

This paper explores interfaith activity through a social policy lens. Examining our contemporary world through the concepts of Globalisation, Migration, Immigration and Cosmopolitanism the paper reveals how there is not only a growth in ‘global’ phenomenon but also reveals a corresponding impact on local issues and identities.

A further discussion as to the nature of religion and the nature of religious belief in the global context raises the possibility of a framework for religious belief which can be applied to interfaith activity. This discussion also shows a shift in the cultural significance of religious …

Prison Policy In Times Of Austerity: Lessons From Ireland, Mary Rogan

Articles

The catastrophic collapse in the once booming Irish economy has led to swingeing budgets, huge falls in property prices, rising unemployment, cut backs in public services, and the ignominy of a bailout financed by the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank. As has been the case for all aspects of public expenditure, prison policy-makers are now regularly using the language of efficiency and value for money when discussing plans for Ireland’s prisons. The state’s current economic woes are having some interesting effects on the direction of prison policy. Plans are afoot to reduce the prison …

Identifying Subjective Statements In News Titles Using A Personal Sense Annotation Framework, Polina Panicheva, John Cardiff, Paolo Rosso

Articles

Subjective language contains information about private states. The goal of subjective language identification is to determine that a private state is expressed, without considering its polarity or specific emotion. A component of word meaning, “Personal Sense,” has clear potential in the field of subjective language identification, as it reflects a meaning of words in terms of unique personal experience and carries personal characteristics. In this paper we investigate how Personal Sense can be harnessed for the purpose of identifying subjectivity in news titles. In the process, we develop a new Personal Sense annotation framework for annotating and classifying subjectivity, polarity, …

‘Moving In’: Difficulties And Support In The Transition To Higher Education For In-Service Social Care Students, Fiona Mcsweeney

Articles

This paper reports on the difficulties and supports experienced by social care practitioners within the educational institution during their transition to higher education. A life transition such as entering higher education causes stress for individuals and social support is essential in successfully dealing with this stress (Anderson et al., 2012). Fifteen social care practitioners were interviewed twice during and once at the end of their first academic year in college. Findings indicate that participants were reluctant to approach staff for help despite anxiety about classes and assignments. Discussion and debate in class helped learning and contributed to feelings of being …

Children, Violence, Community And The Physical Environment: Foreword To The Special Issue, Kevin Lalor

Articles

No abstract provided.

Re-Theorizing The “Structure–Agency” Relationship: Figurational Theory, Organizational Change And The Gaelic Athletic Association, John Connolly, Paddy Dolan

Articles

This article illustrates how the figurational sociology associated with Norbert Elias provides an alternative theoretical framework for explaining the relationship between, ‘individualorganization- society’ and organizational change, and in so doing transverses what is conceived as a false dichotomy between structure and agency. Through an historical case study of the Gaelic Athletic Association in Ireland, the ‘individual-organization-society’ relationship is conceptualized as overlapping figurations and organizational change is explained as figurational dynamics—the shifting social interdependencies between the individuals and groups comprising an organization, between that organization and other organizations, between social groups on a higher level of integration and competition. In tandem …

Strategic Project/ Canteen Ireland, Yvonne Feehan

Students Learning with Communities

CanTeen Ireland is an organisation set up to support, empower and develop young people who have or have had cancer between the ages of 12 and 25. Set up in May 1990, the nationwide support group provides members with a place where they can simply be young people, away from the day to day pressures that come with living with cancer in the hospital or at home. Having no dedicated wards in Irish hospitals for teenagers with cancer, CanTeen is an important resource for the country and steps up where the HSE falls down. CanTeen does not rely on the …

Early Literacy And Numeracy Matters, Geraldine French

Articles

No abstract provided.

An Assessment Of Mobility Among Key Disadvantaged Communities In North East Dublin, David O'Connor, Matthias Borscheid, Odran Reid

Conference Papers

In the context of a healthy communities initiative, this study looks at mobility in a disadvantaged area in a suburban area in north east Dublin. Individuals who avail of the services of community based organisations were interviewed in-depth about their travel patterns over a period of a week and their views on the availability and quality of transport services were ascertained. The area has a high social housing quotient, though much of it is now privately owned. It has a profile of low income, welfare dependency, marginal poverty and a population base that has demonstrated some level of poorer than …

Evaluation Of The Early Years Programme Of The Childhood Development Initiative: Executive Summary, Noirin Hayes, Iram Siraj-Blatchford, Siobhán Keegan, Eimer Goulding

Reports

No abstract provided.

Early Childhood Policy And Provision: A Digest To Inform A National Book Gifting Programme, Geraldine French

Reports

The purpose of this paper is to provide a broad and up to date account of early childhood education and care (ECEC) policy and to investigate if a national book gifting programme can fulfill the need of current policy. Due to the immediacy of emerging policy and provision in the field this paper can only present what is understood currently. By the end of 2013 two developments: The Child and Family Agency and The National Early Years Strategy will be completed. Both of these developments may have relevance for a book gifting programme.

Festival Connections: People, Place And Social Capital, Bernadette Quinn

Books / Book chapters

To date, while some researchers have investigated the nature of social inter-relationships evident in festival settings, the literature is under-developed. This has prompted some researchers to search for alternative theoretical frameworks. Social capital is emerging as a theory which shows potential. Drawing on the findings of two exploratory studies, this paper considers the diverse sets of social relationships at the heart of festival activity, whilst taking account of the role that place plays in these interactions. Empirically it undertakes a qualitative study of a range of festival actors at the Waterside festival in Milton Keynes, England and the Temple Bar …

An Exploration Of The Motivations Behind Committee Membership In Food Networks, Denise O'Leary, Mary Rose Stafford

Conference papers

Food Tourism has been recognised as a fast growing niche area where Ireland can gain competitive advantage. In recognition of the importance of collaboration among diverse stakeholders in the development of food tourism, networks have been identified as essential. This article presents findings from research conducted with three networks and reveals the motivations for committee membership. Data was gathered in 2012 through participant observation and interviews with steering committee members on three food networks using an action research approach.

A framework for examining motivations for collaboration is offered in this article which will contribute to effective network management. Motivations are …

Building Social Capital Through Events: Some Insights From The Gathering, Ziene Mottiar, Bernadette Quinn, Theresa Ryan

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Motivations For Cooperation Among Rural Tourism Entrepreneurs, Ziene Mottiar

Conference papers

No abstract provided.

Emotions, Violence And Social Belonging: An Eliasian Analysis Of Sports Spectatorship, Paddy Dolan, John Connolly

Articles

This paper examines the development of different forms of spectator violence in terms of the socio-temporal structure of situational dynamics at Gaelic football matches in Ireland. The nature of violent encounters has shifted from a collective form based on local solidarity and a reciprocal code of honour, through a transitional collective form based on deferred emotional satisfaction and group pride, towards increasing individualization of spectator violence. This occurs due to the shifting objects of emotional involvement. As the functional specialization of the various roles in the game is partially accepted by spectators, the referee becomes the target of anger. Violence …

Licensed To Care: Inhabiting The Transnational Economy Of "Global Pinoy", Fidel Taguinod

Doctoral

The Philippines’ experience in international labour migration is widely considered a success – an observation endorsed by international bodies such as the World Health Organisation. As an active source of professional nurses to the developed world, the country continues to produce more nurses than the local nursing market can employ; a labour strategy that is promoted, facilitated and supported by the Philippine state and nursing educational system. This thesis interrogates Filipino nurse migration through the methodological prism of autoethnography, drawing on first-hand experience and reflexive accounts, interviews, photographs, policy documents and material cultural artefacts, to critically examine and challenge the …

The Press, Democracy And History: Journalism And Democracy In Transitional Societies, Michael Foley

Doctoral

In 1989 the Berlin Wall came down signalling the beginning of the end of the post World-War-Two settlement that had divided Europe and created the Cold War. The communist world crumbled over a few years, but at a cost. There was a bitter war in the Balkans, shorter, but equally bitter conflicts in the Caucuses as well as in Central Asia. The Soviet Union fell apart leaving in its place new states varying in size from huge countries like Ukraine to the tiny states of the Baltic coast and Kyrgyzstan in far Central Asia. There was also enormous poverty as …

Evaluation Of The Early Years Programme Of The Childhood Development Initiative: Full Report, Noirin Hayes, Iram Siraj-Blatchford, Siobhán Keegan, Eimer Goulding

Reports

Please note this is the full report