NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
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Performing Irishness: Opportunity and Identity within the Public Theatre Scenes of London and Dublin, 1660-1800
No full textThe early modern theatres of London were far from merely being an aspect of ‘English’ culture, as the city was gradually emerging as the centre of an empire, which encompassed Ireland. Members of Ireland’s colonial elite, as well as the increasingly affluent bourgeois, looked to London for cultural inspiration. As English power in Ireland was consolidated, cultural movement and exchange between the two cities intensified. This encouraged dialogues of politics, society and culture. From the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 to the Act of Union in 1800, Dublin became increasingly peripheral in Britain’s expanding empire. While engaging in an Enlightenment process of ‘improvement’, Dublin increasingly modelled itself on London’s image. London’s dominant cultural position drew growing numbers of those intent upon making their name in theatre. Their departure from Ireland, however, did not necessarily signal an end to their impact on its theatres. Many returned to lead the Irish theatre scene, following the example set by London. Actors, writers and managers regularly crossed over and back between Dublin and London. Many of these pioneered influential new styles, techniques and forms, to which the canon of ‘English’ theatre is indebted. Rather than focusing on the literary or dramatic achievements of Irish individuals in London, this study will examine the wider historical significance of their cultural production. The question of Irish identity within an expanding public sphere is central to the study, most especially in analysing the opportunities and limitations that Irish theatrical personnel encountered in London and Dublin. The thesis aims to shed light on the cultural negotiation at play in the theatres, between a mentality of ‘Irishness’ and the creation of an imperial and national ‘British’ identity, as well as that of the idealized ‘Enlightened’ individual. The central objective of the project is to examine how conflicting ideas of ‘Irish’ identity were constructed, performed, and consequently shaped, by Irish actors and playwrights, both on and off the stage, while comparing the development of theatre within the public spheres of London and Dublin
The role of collaborative farming in generational renewal and farm succession
No full textAn aging farming population and a decline in younger farmers are global issues of concern in the pursuit of
sustainable agriculture. A gradual transition to collaborative farming through alternative business structures,
which will facilitate generational renewal is underway. However, little is known about the prevalence of such
alternative business structures internationally as a dearth of academic research exists in this respect. The
objective of this study is to conduct a comprehensive review of the prevalence of alternative farm business
structures in Ireland and to compare the Irish case to selected European countries (France, Germany, The
Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom). A desk-based research approach is adopted to analyse data
from various sources including, agricultural bodies, government departments and international agencies. The
findings highlight that the prevalence of alternative business structures across case countries is not uniform,
and that potential for growth in collaborative farming exists in Ireland to meet the generational renewal
challenge. Gathering accurate and comparable data regarding the prevalence of alternative business structures
has been challenging. Consequently, a more uniform classification of the various types of alternative business
structures and a more accurate and comparable dataset detailing the prevalence of these business structures,
across European countries is recommende
Running red lights: Risk recognition versus follow‐up implementation in the case of Germany's pandemic preparation
No full textThe discrepancy between formal arrangements to ensure health security, as assessed in
the Global Health Security Index, and COVID-19 outcomes points to a broader problem
where formal risk recognition is de-coupled from potentially resource-intensive follow-up policy implementation. Germany is an extreme example of this. Pre-COVID-19,
Germany’s Federal Office of Civilian Protection conducted two pandemic preparation
exercises based on scenarios which closely mirrored the current COVID-19 pandemic:
(a) a multi-jurisdictional, multi-agency crisis management exercise assuming a global
influenza pandemic and (b) a joint federal and expert-agency based risk-analysis assuming the outbreak of a modified severe acute respiratory symptom virus. While informing
legal and institutional reforms, key recommendations on storing personal protective
equipment (PPE) and disinfectants for front-line staff were subsequently ignored. PPE
shortages initially put staff at risk, led to export restrictions on PPE, and later on hampered the country’s ability to address a second wave of the pandemic. This short paper calls for a fuller exploration of factors which hinder ‘‘implementation post-cognition.’
'Without the Help... I Would Have Dropped Out' -Evaluation of the 1916 Bursary Fund for the Midlands East North-Dublin (MEND) Region.
No full textWithout the Help… I Would Have Dropped Out – Evaluation of the 1916 Bursary Fund for the Midlands East North-Dublin (MEND) Region was carried out by College Connect to document the impact of the 1916 Bursary funding had on successful applicants in the MEND Cluster from 2018 to 2022.
The 1916 Bursary Fund is a targeted funding scheme that aims to provide support for economically marginalised students from groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education.
The 1916 Bursary Fund was first announced by the Minister for Education and Skills on the 30th of December 2017 to commemorate the centenary of the 1916 Rising, with the purpose of encouraging participation and success by students from sections of society that are significantly underrepresented in higher education. The Fund is administered under strand two of the Higher Education Authority’s’ Programme for Access to Higher Education
Transparency trade-offs in the operation of national Public Private Partnership units: The case of Ireland’s National Development Finance Agency
No full textSince 2002, the Irish National Development Finance Agency [NDFA] has played a leading role in the procurement of Public Private Partnership [PPP] projects in Ireland (UNECE, 2008). It has procured 9 PPP projects bundles, which are currently listed on its website, between 2002 and 2022
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in addition to Primary Care, Justice, OPW and Education bundles not currently listed on its website. Ireland follows a global pattern where national or provincial PPP units, frequently organised as arm’s-length bodies, play a central role in managing the partnership-based procurement of infrastructure projects (Burger, 2009). This paper examines how the NDFA, acting as Ireland’s PPP unit, has affected the transparency and accountability of Irish PPP procurement. Our analysis indicates that the expanding role played by the NDFA has been depoliticisation and agencification. Our analysis deviates from some previous critical studies of PPP agency governance (Sześciło, 2020) in that we argue that agencification can adversely affect some aspects of PPP transparency while strengthening others, such as selection process transparency. Nonetheless, we suggest the approach to PPP procurement could harm the long-term sustainability of Irish PPP. Using the example of Ireland, our paper contributes to an understanding of the impact of such institutional arrangements on transparency and accountability of PPP procurement
Environmental constitutionalism: a transformative legal discourse
No full textEnvironmental constitutionalism – acknowledging that the environment and/or climate system are
suitable subjects for recognition and protection within constitutional texts and for vindication by national
courts – is increasingly seen as an idea ripe for development in Ireland. Momentum around environmental
constitutionalism reached a peak in March 2023 when the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss
recommended a referendum on inserting environmental and nature rights into Bunreacht na hÉireann. This
article explores whether constitutionalising express environmental rights and/or duties could provide a
transformative legal discourse for tackling the twin climate and biodiversity crises in Ireland
The impact of an effective 3-step hand hygiene technique in reducing potentially pathogenic microorganisms found on nursing professionals’ hands
No full textIntroduction: Healthcare-associated infections are concerning adverse events and hand hygiene is considered an essential preventive measure.
The objective of the present study was to assess the effect of a correct 3-step hand hygiene technique on reducing of potentially pathogenic
microorganisms on hands related to the WHO five moments for hand hygiene.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study was performed by means of direct observation involving 60 Intensive Care Units (ICU) and clinical
nursing professionals in a Brazilian hospital. Observations were performed in order to ascertain the adherence rate and the correct technique
during health assistance. Additionally, microbiological analysis of material collected from the nursing professional’s hands was carried out.
Exploratory and inferential analyses were performed on R software and binomial analysis was carried out by using the Z-test. The study was
approved by the research ethics committee and covered all the legal principles for the protection of human subjects.
Results: Hand hygiene adherence rate was 63.3%. However, only 13.3% of the professionals performed the correct 3-step hand hygiene
technique regarding steps and time. Sixty-five microorganisms were isolated, among which 56.9% were coagulase-negative Staphylococcus,
26.2% were Gram-negative bacilli, 7.7% were Enterococcus faecalis, and 6.2% were Candida parapsilosis. There was no presence of
potentially pathogenic microorganisms on the nursing professional’s hands who performed the correct three-step technique.
Conclusions: Overall correct hand hygiene technique was poor. The results indicated the presence of potentially pathogenic microorganisms at
moments in which hand hygiene was mandatory but was not executed or was executed incorrectly. The 3-step hand hygiene technique proved
to be effective when correctly performed since there were no microorganism growth. Larger studies are needed to test if these results can be
replicated at a larger scale, since streamlining hand hygiene technique yielded encouraging results
Hybrid forecasting: blending climate predictions with AI models
No full textHybrid hydroclimatic forecasting systems employ
data-driven (statistical or machine learning) methods to harness and integrate a broad variety of predictions from dynamical, physics-based models – such as numerical weather
prediction, climate, land, hydrology, and Earth system models – into a final prediction product. They are recognized as
a promising way of enhancing the prediction skill of meteorological and hydroclimatic variables and events, including
rainfall, temperature, streamflow, floods, droughts, tropical
cyclones, or atmospheric rivers. Hybrid forecasting methods are now receiving growing attention due to advances
in weather and climate prediction systems at subseasonal to
decadal scales, a better appreciation of the strengths of AI,
and expanding access to computational resources and methods. Such systems are attractive because they may avoid the
need to run a computationally expensive offline land model,
can minimize the effect of biases that exist within dynamical outputs, benefit from the strengths of machine learning, and can learn from large datasets, while combining different sources of predictability with varying time horizons.
Here we review recent developments in hybrid hydroclimatic
forecasting and outline key challenges and opportunities for further research. These include obtaining physically explainable results, assimilating human influences from novel data
sources, integrating new ensemble techniques to improve
predictive skill, creating seamless prediction schemes that
merge short to long lead times, incorporating initial land surface and ocean/ice conditions, acknowledging spatial variability in landscape and atmospheric forcing, and increasing
the operational uptake of hybrid prediction schemes
Race, Palestine, and International Law
No full textIn 1922, the League of Nations inscribed the goal of establishing a settler colony in Palestine for the Jewish people—in denial of the national self-determination of the Indigenous Arab population—in public international law. The Palestine Mandate juridically erased the national status of the Palestinian people by: (1) framing the Arabs as incapable of self-rule; (2) heightening the significance of establishing a Jewish national home; and (3) distinguishing Palestine from the other Class A mandates for possessing religious significance that exceeded the interests of any single national group. A century later, the still-unresolved “question” of Palestine remains central to struggles for anti-racism and anti-colonialism in international law. This essay revisits two flashpoints in the tangled history of Palestine and international law, where questions of race and racism have been central: first, ongoing debates over the regime and crime of apartheid; and second, the now-repudiated UN General Assembly Resolution 3379, recognizing Zionism as a form of racism and racial discrimination. Both stories demonstrate the importance of understanding race and colonialism as conjoined concepts, neither of which can be properly understood in isolation from the other
Technologies and Strategies to Support Energy Transition in Urban Building and Transportation Sectors
No full textMore than half of the world population live in urban settlements which are responsible for a large share of energy consumption and, consequently, carbon emissions. The transition towards a more sustainable urban environment requires a change in paradigm in terms of how we design and manage our cities. Urban areas require innovative technologies and strategies to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, and to be included in comprehensive plans encompassing all technical, social and economic dimensions which characterise cities. This involves the transformation of urban contexts, with a focus on local and urban-level mitigation measures, such as the construction of positive energy buildings, deployment of renewable energy, promotion of a sustainable mobility, creation of resilient urban infrastructure, implementation of circular economy and recycling practices, etc. The present article provides a perspective on the sustainable energy transition in cities, focusing on the building and transportation sectors. Furthermore, insights on supporting mechanisms and innovative management strategies are presented