National University of Ireland, Maynooth
Maynooth University ePrints and eTheses ArchiveNot a member yet
18158 research outputs found
Sort by
Dismantling Barriers and Advancing the Right of Persons with Disabilities to Participate in Cultural Life: A Socio-Legal Analysis
No full textThe right to participate in cultural life is profoundly rooted in international human rights law, and, with regard to persons with disabilities, it is enunciated in Article 30 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD or the Convention). This provision requires States Parties to the Convention to ensure accessibility of cultural materials, services and activities, and cultural heritage, and to support the creative and artistic potential of persons with disabilities. However, people with disabilities continue to face barriers to cultural participation.
On foot of a pan-European empirical study and a socio-legal analysis, this book discusses the normative content of Article 30 CRPD and its implementation. It identifies and categorises barriers to cultural participation, highlighting new paths to operationalise Article 30 CRPD.
This book will be of interest to scholars and students working in disability law, socio-legal studies, international human rights law, as well as cultural studies, disability studies, and cultural policies
Sharing our Stories: From Sierra Leone to Maynooth: Victoria Ballah shares her story…
No full textI’m from Hastings – a town about 16 kilometres
from Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. I was
born in 1997. My mother died when I was seven,
leaving me and my two sisters, Olive and Catherine,
and my brother Maclean, in the care of my father.
Because I was the youngest, I was sent to live with
my aunt nearby. Much later, when I was in fi rst year at
University, I moved back to live with my father, but sadly
he died in 2019, when I was in my fi nal year. My father
was from the Limba, one of the oldest ethnic groups in
Sierra Leone. They live in the north and north west. My
mother was a Krio. The Krio are descendants of freed
slaves and some of her ancestors were Nigerian. My
dad was an Anglican, my mother a Methodist. I grew
up Methodist and went to a local non-denominational
primary school in Hastings and attended the Annie
Walsh Secondary School from 2010
The ERC DANCING WP4 Tools for Change
No full textThis report is part of the project entitled ‘Protecting the Right to Culture of Persons with
Disabilities and Enhancing Cultural Diversity through European Union Law: Exploring New
Paths – DANCING’. This project has received funding from the European Research Council
(ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant
Agreement No. 864182). This report reflects only the authors’ views and does not necessarily
reflect those of the European Union (EU) or the ERC
Enhancing Cultural Participation of Persons with Disabilities in the European Union: A Policy Brief
No full textCultural participation is a human right and a vital part
of being a member of society. Yet, persons with disabilities face multiple obstacles when participating in
cultural life. In the European Union (EU), Eurostat data
have shown the significant and persistent ‘disability
gap’ in cultural participation, with data showing lower
rates of cultural participation among people with disabilities compared with the overall population aged 16
and over across all EU Member States (MS).
Barriers faced by persons with disabilities include the
absence of adequate or effective legislation ensuring
the right to cultural participation, as well as the insufficient consultation and involvement of persons with
disabilities in relevant decision-making processes.
Additionally, the lack of physical and informational accessibility of cultural sites, goods and services, as well
as persistent negative attitudes and stigma around
participation of people with disabilities in the Cultural
and Creative Sectors (CCS) are significant barriers for
persons with disabilities. Structural barriers - such as
poverty, social marginalisation and exclusion, along
with the lack of adequate support services - contribute to the exclusion of people with disabilities from
cultural life. Further, in the EU, barriers to cultural participation are linked to the existing fragmentation of
EU accessibility legislation, piecemeal approaches to
funding for accessible cultural initiatives as well as to
relatively low prioritisation of cultural participation of
persons with disabilities in EU disability policy.
As provided for in Article 26 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR), persons with disabilities have
the right ‘to benefit from measures designed to ensure their independence, social and occupational integration and participation in the life of the community’,
which includes participation in culture. Furthermore,
Article 30 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) articulates the right of
persons with disabilities to participate in cultural life
- alongside the right to participate in sport, leisure,
and recreation – and lists a number of obligations to
be complied with by States Parties to the Convention.
Having ratified the CRPD, the EU, alongside its MS,
shall implement Article 30 and promote the right to
culture of persons with disabilities. However, ensuring
meaningful participation in cultural life for people with
disabilities is not only a matter of compliance with the
CRPD and social justice, but it is also a vital contribution to the richness and diversity of society. When cultural spaces, programmes, and policies are accessible
and inclusive, everyone benefits
Geographical Refinement of Nitrogen Fertiliser Management in Irish Grasslands: A Model Based Assessment
No full textPlant available nitrogen (N), commonly applied in agricultural soils through the use of inorganic
and organic fertilisers, when surpasses the N requirement to maintain a targeted crop yield, is
lost from the soil into the environment where it has negative impacts, including – climate
change, ozone layer depletion, air and ground water pollution, eutrophication of water bodies,
acidification of soil and water etc. The ‘4R of Nutrient Stewardship’ (4RNS), promotes the
application of fertilisers at the right time, right place, right rate and from the right source - to
meet a targeted yield, seeking to prevent surplus N supply. Process-oriented biogeochemical
models can help to investigate and identify the potential of incorporating spatially explicit
information into N management plans to achieve 4RNS objectives, enabling simulated yield and
N loss via different pathways to be estimated, while explicitly accounting for soil and
atmospheric variables, management and their impact on nutrient dynamics. In this research we
investigate the scope of the DNDC (DeNitrification DeComposition) model to inform more
geographically refined N management plans, for intensively managed Irish grasslands that are
currently managed by aspatial N management strategies at farm and national level. A score of
20 % or less relative deviation of estimated annual yield and N loss was used as a benchmark of
deciding reliability of model performance, while tools like mean absolute error, root mean
square error and correlation was applied to compare the model performance at a daily scale
with respect to existing studies, as required. Our study showed that the DNDC model reliably
estimates site-specific grass growth rate and annual yield when the correct parameterisations
for the crop phenology and local background atmospheric conditions are accounted for within
the model. The model performs well when site-specific soil and management inputs are used,
as well as for more generalised inputs - relevant for sites with limited availability of site-specific
information. However, to generate reliable annual estimates of both yield and N loss via
different pathways, it is necessary to include site-specific soil inputs including water filled pore
spaces (WFPS) at field capacity (FC) and wilting point (WP). At a daily scale, the correlation
between available measured and estimated N loss was poor. However, the errors at daily scale
and relative deviation at annual scale were lower in comparison to existing results published. A
scenario analysis showed that key environmental variables explaining spatial variation of nitrate
(NO3
-) leaching varies with the annual N application rate. Whereas the key variables relevant for
regulating annual yield and annual N loss through ammonia (NH3) volatilisation and nitrous
oxide (N2O) emissions, identified through one factor at a time sensitivity analysis (with
categorising output on the basis of sensitivity index of greater than 10 % as sensitive, between
0.1 % to 10 % as potentially sensitive and less than 0.1 % as not sensitive), relevant to develop
more simplified and robust models for site-specific N management, were – soil texture and clay
content, soil organic carbon (SOC), bulk density (BD), pH, stocking rate and annual N fertiliser
application, annual rainfall and average annual temperature. Finally, this work also sought to
identify if a robust application of DNDC is possible to reliably simulate spatial variation of grass
yield and N loss - when default inputs are used for non-mandatory soil and atmospheric
variables, while the model is parameterised for crop phenology of perennial ryegrass. This study
showed that such application is only limited for estimation of spatial variation of yield and NO3
-
leaching – while yield itself is an indicator of potential N2O emissions
Signal and Noise in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation at 26°N
No full textThe Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) plays a crucial role in redistributing heat within the climate system. The RAPID mooring array has observed an AMOC weakening of 1.0 [0.4–1.6] Sv per decade from 2004 to 2023, consistent with climate model projections and not consistent with a collapse in the mid‐21st century. Here, we analyze the AMOC change within a signal‐to‐noise framework. We find a strong signal in Lower North Atlantic Deep Water (LNADW) and thermocline transports. By removing the influence of Ekman transport on AMOC and LNADW estimates, we reduce noise by 30% and 22%,respectively. Moreover, we demonstrate that a simple model of LNADW yields a comparable signal‐to‐noiseratio to the full AMOC estimate. Ultimately, we conclude that current AMOC trends are unlikely to reach“unfamiliar” (signal‐to‐noise ratio > 2) or “unknown” (signal‐to‐noise ratio > 3) thresholds until the 2040s and 2060s, respectively
Housing Need and Demand Assessment Policy Report. Data Stories Working Paper 7.
No full textThis policy report examines the use of data to determine long-term housing tenure needs
and demands in Ireland through an in-depth case study of the Government of Ireland’s
Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA) policy. The study draws from deskbased research of all 31 local authority’s local development plans, 11 interviews with
planners, policymakers and consultants involved in the rollout and present review of the
HNDA, two workshops with key stakeholders exploring the relationship between
evidence and policy and 13 post-workshop interviews. Beyond providing a synthesis of
how the HNDA process was understood by users and key stakeholders, the report
develops a critique of: 1) the methodology, 2) the capacity of local authorities to perform
an HNDA, 3) the rollout of the policy and 4) overarching governance issues
Civic Engagement in the Neoliberal-Patriarchal University: Lessons from Irish Practitioners Working Within and Against the System.
No full textThis study examines civic engagement and highlights the ways community engagement practice can learn from practitioners in Ireland as they navigate present-day university environments. It explores the origins, interpretations, and common operational models of civic engagement, presenting it as a contested field shaped by differing orientations and politics. I delve more deeply into community engagement practices on the continuum from transactional to transformative, making the case for the latter throughout. I also explore how the relevant Irish civic engagement policies are enabling and restricting for practitioners, and how they may contribute to the domestication of community engagement within the neoliberal-patriarchal university.
This research is positioned within the context of the neoliberal-patriarchal framing of the Irish higher education system, and conducted within a critical feminist research paradigm, drawing from the theories of intersectionality, critical feminist pedagogy, as well as my own practice in community engagement. It is a qualitative study that consists of in-depth interviews with seven Irish female civic engagement practitioners.
The findings reveal that the participants’ commitments are to a radical and transformative model of civic engagement focused on social justice and equality, and based on the principles of holistic, engaged and nurturing pedagogy. At the same time, this study shows that the practice tends to be more traditional and tempered. This research portrays community engagement as innovative work in a rigid higher education system, and a practice that is liminal and largely invisible and unrecognised. Despite its marginal status, this research also documents the ways in which civic engagement can disturb the dominant discourse of a neoliberal-patriarchal university. The unique contribution of this research lies in its focus on the lived experiences of civic engagement practitioners, offering a new perspective on community engagement through a critical, intersectional feminist lens. It sheds light on the values, practices, and challenges faced by practitioners who work in a university environment that is often counter-normative to their practice and values, expanding our understanding of civic engagement in Ireland
Reaching out: Exhibition: An Damer a landmark in Irish Theatre
No full textAn exhibition to mark Seachtain na Gaeilge 2025, was presented by Special Collections & Archives at Maynooth University Library, about the Damer Theatre. An Damer was an Irish language theatre operated by Gael Linn in the Unitarian Church, Saint Stephen’s Green, Dublin from 1955 until 1981