- Read more: The Role of Ireland’s Sustainable Energy Communities in the Just Transition
This community-based research explores the role of Sustainable Energy Communities (SECs) in Ireland, revealing the meaningful social impacts they are creating in their localities, despite acute policy and financial challenges. This paper concludes with policy recommendations to harness the full capacity of community energy in Ireland and advance a more just energy transition
- Read more: Ireland’s Childcare Problem: What We Have, and What Denmark Does Differently
This paper argues that Ireland’s recent childcare fee cuts, while helpful to many parents, are masking the real problem. Ireland still has a shortage of childcare places and an underpaid workforce that subsidies alone can’t fix. This paper uses Denmark’s guaranteed-place, publicly- funded model as a benchmark to show an alternative approach to childcare.
- Read more: Ireland, the EU Space Act and the Case for Satellite Broadband Transparency
This paper argues that the intensifying race among major satellite broadband operators to maximise launches risks entrenching market dominance, limiting infrastructure-sharing opportunities, and increasing strategic dependence on a small number of providers. For Ireland, as an island nation with strong interests in resilience, maritime and rural connectivity, and public-interest access, a proportionate transparency regime in…
- Read more: Moving to Survey Self-Completion: Mode Choice and Sensitive Questions
Research and evidence used to understand changes in our societies, both over time and comparatively, relies heavily on survey data. The European Social Survey (ESS) has long been recognised as a pioneer in high-quality cross-national survey research. Since its inception, the ESS has relied on rigorous face-to-face interviewing to ensure comparability across countries and over…
- Read more: Don’t look back in anger: Making dynamic electricity pricing work for Ireland
By June 2026, Bord Gáis Energy, Electric Ireland, Energia, PrePay Power/Yuno and SSE Airtricity will be obligated by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) to offer dynamic price contracts to customers. This paper outlines what research has told us so far about dynamic pricing and how it can be beneficial in the retail electricity…
- Read more: Moving to Survey Self-Completion: Exploring Mode Preferences
This paper builds on our earlier analysis of response patterns and turns to the specific issue of mode preferences. We examine the socio-demographic factors that shape respondents’ choices between paper and web, focusing on five basic characteristics: gender, age, education, domicile, and household income. In doing so, we aim to shed light on whether web…
- Read more: Missing the Boat: Port Infrastructure as a Critical Barrier to Offshore Wind Energy Development in Ireland
This policy paper draws on research conducted by academics based in Dublin City University (DCU) under the Next Generation Energy Systems (NexSys) research programme, which has identified limited port capacity as a key constraint for Ireland’s planned rollout of critical ORE projects. NexSys targeted project DVY_TP1 has explored key challenges in delivering offshore wind projects…
- Read more: Systems Thinking and Homelessness Policy in Ireland
This paper advocates for the application of systems thinking in public policy development as a means of addressing homelessness in Ireland. Systems thinking is an approach to understanding how parts of a system interrelate and how systems evolve over time. Homelessness is a complex systems problem, and this paper proposes that a systemic inquiry of…
- Read more: Moving to Self-Completion: Challenges and Opportunities for Survey Data Collection in Ireland
This paper discusses some findings from the Irish European Social Survey self-completion pilot study and offers key insights into the challenges and opportunities of switching to a self-completion mode.
- Read more: Towards Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Energy Trading: A Policy Pathway for Ireland’s Decentralised Energy Future
This brief proposes a phased roadmap to enable P2P energy trading in Ireland, examining the regulatory, technical, and community-based steps needed to support a more decentralised electricity system in Ireland
