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Easing the Pain? Estimating the Economic Impact of Domestic and Global Policy Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic and the measures put in place to control its spread resulted in a collapse in global economic activity. Both governments and central banks responded to the deep economic crisis with unprecedented policy interventions. In this paper, we use both a global and a domestic structural macroeconomic model to estimate the impact of these exceptional policy supports on the international economy and on Ireland. Our analysis seeks to quantify the positive spillovers to the Irish economy from the fiscal, monetary and macroprudential policy interventions introduced globally and describes the transmission channels through which these policy actions affect Ireland. We also estimate the impact on economic activity and the labour market of the unprecedented fiscal packages introduced in Ireland. Our results indicate that the combination of international and domestic policy interventions have helped to substantially reduce the fall in output in Ireland from COVID-19, boosting growth in 2020 by up to 8 percentage points
The Road Less Travelled: Examining Feminist Legal Strategies for Reforming Abortion Law in Ireland
Get PDFIt has been written that “the struggle for social change has time and again been diverted away from the reform of statutory law towards the use of the Constitution and the courts.” The Irish experience of abortion law since the 1980s has been characterised by the enactment of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, several high-profile cases regarding the scope of protec- tions afforded under the Constitution under the Eighth Amendment, and the late advent of statutory reform. This essay seeks to examine that stance, its effect on abortion law and women in Ireland today, and the merits of different means possible for re- forming Irish abortion law. It will be argued that reliance on the Consti- tution and courts to formulate abortion law has resulted in a significant problematic accumulation of case law on foetal rights, an inevitable need for constitutional reform, and a diminished legal status for women in Ireland
Unequal Equilibrium: Gender Inequality in Economics
Get PDFGender inequality in the economics profession is frequently debated in the media and the academy of late, but this inequality is far from new. This paper will trace the entrenched underrepresentation of women in the discipline back to the turn of the 20th Century and the emergence of neoclassical economics, in particular the writings and actions of Alfred Marshall, to demonstrate that today’s gender differentials are rooted in three discriminations: in theory, method and access. It will also consider women’s responses to this discrimination, both historically and in the present day, calling into question how much further they would have progressed in more equal circumstances
To What Extent was the Political Arena Gendered Masculine in Early Modern Europe?
Get PDFThis essay explores the political sphere in early modern Europe in order to determine the extent to which it was gendered masculine. Although the early modern period signified a new era of female kings, the political sphere still contained huge power asymmetries between the genders. This is evident in the environment created by the political thought of the time and legal barriers that women faced. These conditions led to manifestations of “gender style” and internalised misogyny which truly reflect the masculine nature of the political sphere. By shedding light on these intricacies, this essay aims to make clear that the political arena in which early modern female rulers functioned in was simply not made for them
Priming the Pump into Action: Institutions of Culture, Amateur Drama and Paradigm Shift in 1950s Ireland
Get PDFFocusing on case studies that deal with An Tóstal and the North Cork Drama Festival, this paper argues that amateur drama festivals, supported by the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, dynamically contributed to the paradigm shift that took place within post-war Irish society.
The seventieth anniversary of the passing of the first Arts Act (1951) and the establishment of the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon provides an opportunity to reflect on the impact of amateur drama festivals on 1950s Irish society. This research considers the commissioning of the Report on the Arts in Ireland (1948), the passing of the first Arts Act (1951), the establishment of the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon (1952) and the initiation of An Tóstal (1953), as a series of fundamental cultural responses on the part of the government to the reality of a post-war changing society. Consequently, the research on which this paper is based argues that the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon support for local communities that fostered cultural appreciation was an essential element to the state’s response to this deteriorating economic situation. Focusing on case studies that deal with An Tóstal and the North Cork Drama Festival, this paper argues that amateur drama festivals, supported by the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, dynamically contributed to the paradigm shift that took place within post-war Irish society. Despite a perception that Irish culture was in decline a plethora of literary output, coupled with evidence from the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon / An Chomhairle Ealaíon archive, demonstrates that these festival communities looked to culture as a means of creatively addressing that which ‘could not be spoken of in official Ireland’ (Garvin and Fanning, 2014, p. 186)
Is it time to re-examine human rights theory to adequately address gender-based violations?
Get PDFAccording to the United Nations “one in three women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence–mostly by an intimate partner” (UN Women 2015). Furthermore, it is estimated that every second woman killed globally, was killed by her partner. Over 60 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was passed and more than 20 years since The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women was adopted by the General Assembly, violence against women can still be described as a global pandemic. The issues raised in the early 90s by the feminist move- ment on whether the liberal framework and rights approach can sufficiently address the topic of gender based violence is, thus, still equally relevant in today’s society
Keeping up Appearances: The Containment of Irish Women in the Scramble for a Post-Independence National Identity
Get PDFThe surge in the institutionalisation of Irish women in Mother andBaby Homes and Magdalene Laundries following the achievement of Independence should not be viewed simply as a case of unchecked Catholic influence over governance. Nor should it be conceptualised as thoughtless deferral of power from the State to the Church. Instead, this mass incarceration should be seen as a conscious and intentional choice made by the free-state political elite who sought to cling to a conservative national identity in order to retrospectively legitimize the fight for independence. A clear story emerges, evidenced by the mass-repatriation of fleeing pregnant Irish women to Britain and the censorship of publications uncovering female ‘sexual deviance’, in which political objectives derived from post- colonial instability were favoured over the personhood and autonomy of Irish women