Ireland: Political Developments and Data in 2022

Abstract

Ireland in 2022 saw the return of normal politics after two years of the pandemic. The ebbing of the health crisis saw the emergence or re‐emergence of new crises. The invasion of Ukraine had an impact on Irish politics as there was a surge of refugees accommodated in Ireland and an increase in inflation. The government introduced measures to mitigate the impact of the cost‐of‐living crisis, but the growing population and a lag in construction activity caused the housing crisis to worsen. None of what the government sought to do was able to mitigate these problems in the short to medium term at least. By the end of the year, the pressure the number of refugees had put on housing services led to anti‐refugee protests, hitherto unknown in Ireland. Ireland also saw a new Taoiseach (Prime Minister), though the government remained substantively the same following the planned rotation of the head of government.

Political Developments and Data in 2022: Introducing the 2023 Political Data Yearbook

“…It was the only country to grow in 2020; it led the Yearbook cases with per capita growth of 13.6 per cent in 2021; and it led again in 2022 with per capita growth of nearly 12 per cent, almost double the next best performers (Croatia, Iceland, Israel, Malta and Portugal, all in the 6.0 per cent–7.0 per cent range). The Irish government used the growth to ease the burden of rising energy costs through tax cuts and energy credits (Arlow & O'Malley 2023). At the other end of the per capita growth spectrum is Estonia, which is the only case of contraction in 2022.…”