Category: Governance

  • The extent and sophistication of online political campaigning during democratic processes was largely overlooked until lacunas in election regulation were identified around digital advertising following the 2016 Brexit referendum and US Presidential elections. Since then, both research and regulation have largely focused on the three main issues identified in the 2016 election: election advertising, mis/disinformation and foreign interference (Siapera & Kirk,2022).

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  • Some policies are not as effective as they could be, and “sludge” might be one reason for that. Sludge is the term that behavioural scientists use to describe excessive or unjustified frictions that make it harder for people to do what they want (Sunstein 2021; Thaler 2018). These frictions can come in the form of paperwork burdens, complex application processes, long waiting times, difficult cancellation processes, and many other ways. Concepts closely related to sludge are administrative burden, red-tape, and transaction costs

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  • The Irish State Administration Database (ISAD) constitutes a major research infrastructure for the humanities and social sciences in Ireland, and is of benefit to political scientists, historians, lawyers, sociologists and specialists in public policy. It should also be of interest to public servants and public representatives.

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  • The issues of tax transparency and tax regulation are at the centre of current debates on the fairness of tax systems. Where tax havens exist, they are often shrouded in secrecy, a secrecy that facilitates tax evasion

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  • Ursula Barry, Emeritus Associate Professor, Gender Studies, School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice, UCD Introduction 1 The propensity to care and the work of caring are the lifeblood of our social and economic systems. Care is central to the reproduction of society, part of the fundamental social infrastructure which holds society together. […]

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  • Liam Delaney, Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics 100 years since the start of the state, we are still left with many questions about how best to assess Ireland’s progress in terms of health and welfare. The 20th century in Ireland was characterised by high rates of urban infant mortality up […]

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  • The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a type of rental support provided by local authorities. Under this scheme, local authorities make a monthly payment to landlords, while HAP tenants pay weekly contributions towards the rent to the Local Authority based on the household income

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  • The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the urgency of providing adequate and appropriate accommodation for the most vulnerable groups within the context of strategies being implemented to curb the spread of the virus.

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  • Professor Mary Murphy Department of Sociology, Maynooth University Expectations of paradigmatic change often overestimate the degree to which crises will result in change. The reality seems more consistent with Klein’s (2008 ‘Shock Doctrine’ which associates crisis with a reinforcement of neoliberalism. Our experiences of the 2008 crisis and subsequent austerity means we should not be […]

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  • Income levels increased substantially between 2012 and 2019 following a number of years of contraction: with nominal median disposable household incomes increasing by €6,100 or 34% from over €17,900 in 2012 to almost €24,000 in 2019

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