This paper discusses the transformations that have taken place in Irish higher education under neoliberalism and, in particular, during the period of austerity since 2008. We adopt a critical political economic framework conceptualizing Ireland as a prototypical neoliberal state and maintain that the period of economic crisis since 2008 has witnessed a deepening of neoliberalism. We argue that restructuring in the education sector has been shaped by forces originating from the European Union, global institutions, as well as from the interests of Irish political and economic elites. We examine several aspects of the neoliberalization of the education sector, including privatization, commercialization, labor casualization and the erosion of work conditions. Empirically, the paper synthesizes and conceptualizes available data on neoliberalism and higher education in Ireland. Theoretically, it presents a useful framework to investigate similar cases in other countries.
A number of European countries have implemented austerity programmes since the onset of the current economic crisis. This paper focuses on fiscal consolidation, a central aspect of such programmes, using the case of Ireland. It investigates the significant role of the mass media in presenting such policies to the public, a role which has so far remained unexamined. Conceiving of the Irish experience over the past few decades as a case of neoliberalisation, it uses a critical political economic conceptualisation of news organisations to consider 431 editorials and opinion articles discussing fiscal consolidation in three leading Irish newspapers between 2008 and 2012. It finds that the majority of articles present viewpoints in favour of fiscal consolidation and display a preference for spending cuts over tax hikes, which substantiates the claim that Ireland has adopted neoliberal policies to address the crisis. Only a minority of articles oppose fiscal consolidation. These mostly contest specific spending cuts but usually fail to criticise fiscal consolidation itself by calling for economic alternatives, such as Keynesian stimulus. Differences between newspapers are also discussed, highlighting their ideological cleavages.policy that underpins such packages. Ireland is used as a case study and the country's political economy over the past several decades is conceived as a case of neoliberalisation, which also applies to the ways in which the country has addressed the crisis since 2008. The paper sheds light on the extent and ways in which fiscal consolidation has been presented favourably or unfavourably by news organisations; the particular strategies (taxation and spending) that have been preferred; the nature of and extent to which policy alternatives have been circulated in the media; and differences in coverage from one newspaper to another.The paper proceeds as follows. First, the Irish experience of fiscal consolidation is reviewed and put in the context of the country's neoliberalisation. Second, the economic debate about fiscal consolidation is reviewed. Third, after a brief analysis of Irish media, newspaper coverage of fiscal consolidation is discussed, addressing the issues raised above. The last section concludes.
Private for‐profit home care providers have grown unevenly in Europe and through varied processes. Yet, more research focusing directly on private providers is needed to identify and explain European patterns in their growth and in their modes of operation. This paper examines the case of Ireland, where private providers have grown significantly in recent years and transformed the national landscape of domiciliary care. First, it is shown that the amount of public funding received by private providers increased from €3 million in 2006 to €176 million in 2019, in contrast to amounts allocated to non‐profit and public providers that have increased only slightly. Second, those trends are explained through policy analysis and by drawing on in‐depth semi‐structured interviews (n = 12) with private home care providers and government officials who have been central to the privatization of care. The paper gives a direct voice to key figures in private home care, and through a critical reading of interview materials, argues that the neoliberal nature of the Irish state has driven the growth of private provision, in particular, through policies of competitive tendering and fiscalization. Providers' own lobbying activities have also played a role, albeit a secondary one. Ireland has traditionally followed a laissez‐faire, family‐based system comparable to Southern European countries. Its experience is thus directly relevant to that region, but further research should also compare and contrast the development of private providers operating in other European long‐term care regimes.
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