DOCSLIB.ORG

A Very Political Project: Charles Haughey, Social Partnership and the Pursuit of an “Irish Economic Miracle”, 1969-92

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Very Political Project: Charles Haughey, Social Partnership and the Pursuit of an “Irish Economic Miracle”, 1969-92 Dublin City University School of Law and Government A Very Political Project: Charles Haughey, Social Partnership and the pursuit of an “Irish economic miracle”, 1969-92 By Philip O’Connor Thesis completed under the supervision of Prof. Gary Murphy in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Dublin City University, School of Law and Government January 2020 Declaration I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of Doctor of Philosophy is entirely my own work, and that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, does not to the best of my knowledge breach any law of copyright, and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. Signed: ________________ (Candidate) DCU ID: 54160707 Date: 6th Jan. 2020 Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 Acknowledgements 6 Abstract 7 Introduction 8 Chapter 1: Theoretical contentions and competing literatures Contentions 14 The political economy of policy change 15 Policy and partnership in the economic transformation 19 Ireland’s social partnership in comparative analyses 22 Other literature 24 Part 1: Leaps, Bounds and Reversals, 1945-86 29 Chapter 2: The quest for socio-economic organisation, 1945-70 Irish politics and economic interests before 1945 30 Fits and starts: Irish “tripartitism” 1945-56 36 Lemass’s economic institutionalism 1957-63 40 System stresses: from expansion to dissolution 1963-69 45 Spirit of the ‘60s: social change and industrial crisis 1967-69 49 “Order plucked from threatening chaos”: Haughey’s 1969-70 initiative 53 Lynch’s retreat to minimalism: the 1970 Wage Agreement (NWA) 56 Haughey, the ITGWU and the suspension of tripartitism 59 Chapter 3: The politics of retreat and revival 1970-81 Asymmetric impact: tripartitism in the 1970 Northern crisis 64 Corporatist minimalism: the NWA system, 1971-76 66 From tripartite revival to “National Understanding”, 1976-79 72 New Deal: Haughey recasts the “Understanding”, 1980 81 From implementation to crisis 1980-81 88 Chapter 4: Partnership and autonomous government 1981-86 Breakdown under the Fine Gael-Labour coalition, 1981-82 92 Revival in another Haughey interlude, 1982 97 Policy consensus, ideology and party conflict in the 1980s 105 Autonomous government: economic crisis and policy choice 108 Unbridgeable divide? – Employers, unions and the state in the 1980s 114 3 Part 2: Genesis and construction of the “PNR”, 1984-87 121 Chapter 5: Policy revolution: the politics of the NESC plan Inception: Ó hUIginn, Flynn and the genesis of an idea 122 Parting of the ways: the Labour/union policy split 126 Strategy revolution at the NESC 128 “Palace coup”: the ICTU secures a mandate 134 The “Haughey Factor” again decisive 136 Partnership on principle: Fianna Fáil in the 1987 election 141 Chapter 6: Long haul: the dramatic road to the “PNR”, 1987 Government choice and policy positioning 143 First step: Haughey engages the social partners 144 Blunt talk: Haughey’s three-stage strategy 149 Broad base: mobilising social partner input 153 Pay and planning agendas: crafting the agreement 157 “To the strains of ‘Mise Eire’”: the political symbolism of a plan 162 The PNR: a plan for socio-economic transformation 163 Political high stakes: the rocky road to ratification 166 Part 3: Implementation, 1987-89 177 Chapter 7: The strategy and dynamics of partnership, 1987-89 Kick-starting the partnership “system”, December 1987 178 Institutional drivers: CRC, NESC and the State: CRC: a “mechanism unique in the European Community” 181 NESC: the “appropriate body” for national strategy 186 Political dynamic: partnership at the “political level” 190 Partnership as mobilisation of Total Factor Productivity 194 Leveraging Europe: the “National Development Plan” 200 Partnership and the Haughey-Delors “alliance” 204 Chapter 8: Green Shoots: recovery and policy innovation, 1987-89 “Turnaround”: a pattern emerges 211 Policy tested: “indigenous” industry’s uneven performance 212 Growth drivers: new sectors and EC leverage 218 Innovation: IFSC “pipe-dream” and the FDI “surge” 221 A mixed economy model: Haughey, the unions and the semi-states 226 Chapter 9: The politics of pay and social compensation 1987-89 Deferring reward: partnership and the politics of pay 236 New paradigms: “Rural Development”, “Long-term unemployment” 242 The politics of “unemployment black-spots” 248 Managing despair: government policy and “anti-poverty” politics 251 Social compensations and state modernisation 253 Irish model: a state-dirigiste globally active mixed-economy 255 4 Part 4: Consolidation, 1989-92 257 Chapter 10: Institutionalising Social Partnership, 1989-91 Haughey’s commitment to partnership as a “permanent system” 258 ICTU and programme delivery: the leveraging of discontent 260 Who’s “Left”? ICTU and its rebels 266 System consolidated: local pay, apprentices and industrial relations 270 Strategic shift: the Haughey/ICTU deal on the “semi-states” 273 Planning the transition: towards a new agreement 281 Completing the blueprint: NESC and the 10-year “PESP” 284 Chapter 11: Metamorphosis: Economic and political consequences of the PNR/PESP Prototype Tiger: towards an “economic miracle” 292 Template for a Social and Developmental State 299 Thus far … : setting limits to partnership institutions 301 Party politics: the (partial) demise of anti-corporatism 306 Social partnership and equality politics: a case study 310 Unruly offspring: partnership and the politics of poverty 315 Conclusions 321 Addenda 331 Appendix A: Membership of the “Central Review Committee”, 1990 332 Appendix B: CRC attendance under the PNR, 1987-90 333 Appendix C: Pay rounds and party preferences, 1945-91 337 Acronyms and abbreviations 338 References: Archival sources and private papers 344 Interviews with and information from witnesses 346 Press 347 Bibliography 348 5 Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the encouragement and support of Professor Gary Murphy, who supervised it. It was he who convinced me, after I completed an MA in 2014, to pursue the historical study of social partnership I wished to undertake through the route of a PhD, focusing on it as an essentially political project central to the historic Irish economic turnaround achieved in the 1990s. DCU provided generous support through a 4-year scholarship and study grant. My work benefitted from many conversations with Gary, who is currently completing what will be a definitive biography of Charles Haughey. I am also grateful to Dr. Eileen Connolly of DCU, and to the internal and external examiners, Dr. Eoin O’Malley of DCU and Professor Seán Ó Riain of NUI Maynooth, for their thoughtful comments, suggestions and encouragement. My thanks are also due to Martin Fraser, secretary general of the Department of the Taoiseach, who, at the request of Shay Cody, gave me generous access to the extensive records of the Central Review Committee of social partnership in that Department, and to archivist Joseph Goude for his unfailing assistance as I worked through them. I would also thank David Begg for similar access to the records of the ICTU, Dr. Rory O’Donnell to those of NESC and Shay Cody those of Fórsa. Thanks also to Seán Haughey TD, Vincent McBrierty, Manus O’Riordan, David Connolly and many others who assisted with ideas, accessing sources and convincing key witnesses to talk with me, as well as the interviewees themselves for their time and candidness. I also thank Jean Kennedy at SIPTU College, Pádraig Mannion at ILHS, and the staffs of all other archives consulted, including UCD, Sligo IT, NLI and NAI. A special thanks also to Pádraig Yeates for providing his own research and interview papers, and to Phil Flynn, Des Geraghty, Kieran Rose and others who made private papers available. Finally I would like to thank by wife and lifelong partner, Helen Lahert, for not alone enduring but encouraging me in this project, and to family and friends for their support and on-going, often amusing, accompanying comments throughout. Needless to say, none of those who assisted me bear any responsibility for views or judgements expressed in the study, which are entirely my own. 6 Abstract A Very Political Project: Charles Haughey, Social Partnership and the pursuit of an “Irish economic miracle”, 1969-92 By Philip O’Connor The social partnership model initiated in Ireland in 1987 was a key factor enabling the transformation of the Irish economy and society from one of West Europe’s poorest to one of its top performers in little over a decade. This policy paradigm shift, as profound as that of 1959-63, recast the economy within a few years to a new model, its future defining characteristics established by 1991. The strategy involved exploiting emerging opportunities, particularly global finance, to drive a transformation, but also encompassed comprehensive social and institutional reform, employment growth, state industries, and a radical remodelling of social and educational provision. The combined approach was consciously conceived as an alternative route to economic modernity to solely “monetarist” or social state dismantling approaches adopted elsewhere. Social state innovations under partnership, however, rapidly became its central concern as job creation failed to keep pace with the attrition in declining industries. But the dual social/economic strategy of partnership made it a model of international significance, not least in being instituted just as most states were retreating from “corporatism” or abandoning it altogether. Central to the Irish transformation was a circle led by Charles Haughey, who engineered it through tight control over government and a working alliance with key forces among the social partners. In this Haughey, a modernising nationalist, realised a long-conceived policy approach he had previously attempted. Social partnership was neither primarily an emergency response to the immediate debt crisis nor a conforming to a supposed European “norm”.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Sunday Independent
    gjj Dan O'Brien The Irish are becoming EXCLUSIVE ‘I was hoping he’d die,’ Jill / ungovernable. This Section, Page 18Meagher’s husband on her murderer. Page 20 9 6 2 ,0 0 0 READERS Vol. 109 No. 17 CITY FINAL April 27,2014 €2.90 (£1.50 in Northern Ireland) lMELDA¥ 1 1 P 1 g§%g k ■MAY ■ H l f PRINCE PHILIP WAS CHECKING OUT MY ASS LIFE MAGAZINE ALL IS CHANGING, CHANGING UTTERLY. GRAINNE'SJOY ■ Voters w a n t a n ew political p arty Poll: FG gets MICHAEL McDOWELL, Page 24 ■ Public demands more powers for PAC SHANE ROSS, Page 24 it in the neck; ■ Ireland wants Universal Health Insurance -but doesn'tbelieve the Governmentcan deliver BRENDAN O'CONNOR, Page 25 ■ We are deeply suspicious SF rampant; of thecharity sector MAEVE SHEEHAN, Page 25 ■ Royal family are welcome to 1916 celebrations EILISH O'HANLON, Page 25 new partycall LOVE IS IN THE AIR: TV presenter Grainne Seoige and former ■ ie s s a Childers is rugbycoach turned businessman Leon Jordaan celebrating iittn of the capital their engagement yesterday. Grainne's dress is from Havana EOGHAN HARRIS, Page 19 in Donnybrookr Dublin 4. Photo: Gerry Mooney. Hayesfaces defeat in Dublin; Nessa to top Full Story, Page 5 & Living, Page 2 poll; SF set to take seat in each constituency da n ie l Mc Connell former minister Eamon Ryan and JOHN DRENNAN (11 per cent). MillwardBrown Our poll also asked for peo­ FINE Gael Junior Minister ple’s second preference in Brian Hayes is facing a humil­ FULL POLL DETAILS AND ANALYSIS: ‘ terms of candidate.
    [Show full text]
  • Irish Political Review, January, 2011
    Of Morality & Corruption Ireland & Israel Another PD Budget! Brendan Clifford Philip O'Connor Labour Comment page 16 page 23 back page IRISH POLITICAL REVIEW January 2011 Vol.26, No.1 ISSN 0790-7672 and Northern Star incorporating Workers' Weekly Vol.25 No.1 ISSN 954-5891 Economic Mindgames Irish Budget 2011 To Default or Not to Default? that is the question facing the Irish democracy at present. In normal circumstances this would be Should Ireland become the first Euro-zone country to renege on its debts? The bank debt considered an awful budget. But the cir- in question has largely been incurred by private institutions of the capitalist system, cumstances are not normal. Our current which. made plenty money for themselves when times were good—which adds a budget deficit has ballooned to 11.6% of piquancy to the choice ahead. GDP (Gross Domestic Product) excluding As Irish Congress of Trade Unions General Secretary David Begg has pointed out, the bank debt (over 30% when the once-off Banks have been reckless. The net foreign debt of the Irish banking sector was 10% of bank recapitalisation is taken into account). Gross Domestic Product in 2003. By 2008 it had risen to 60%. And he adds: "They lied Our State debt to GDP is set to increase to about their exposure" (Irish Times, 13.12.10). just over 100% in the coming years. A few When the world financial crisis sapped investor confidence, and cut off the supply of years ago our State debt was one of the funds to banks across the world, the Irish banks threatened to become insolvent as private lowest, but now it is one of the highest, institutions.
    [Show full text]
  • Journalism, Politics and the Celtic Tiger Journalists
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by DCU Online Research Access Service Chapter 8 Declan Fahy A limited focus? Journalism, politics and the Celtic Tiger Journalists dominated the 2009 end-of-year bestseller lists with books castigating Ireland’s financial and political elites for causing the financial crisis that would eventually claim the country’s economic sovereignty. In The Bankers Shane Ross criticised bank executives and regulators for their close relationship that facilitated years of reckless property speculation, while in Who really runs Ireland? Matt Cooper laid out the elite nexus of bankers, developers, politicians and media owners that he argued allowed a thriving economy to overheat. In Ship of Fools, Fintan O’Toole traced the entwined Irish histories of economic mismanagement, political corruption and financial fraud that combined so disastrously in the crisis. In Follow the Money, David McWilliams described a panicked Irish government amid the 2008 global financial meltdown, as then finance minister Brian Lenihan, eating garlic to stay awake, paid a late-night visit to the columnist’s house for advice. In Anglo Republic, Simon Carswell forensically examined the succession of high-risk financial decisions by Anglo Irish Bank executives that forced the government to guarantee bank debts and deposits. These books unflinchingly laid out the national systemic political and financial failure that found apt symbolism, among international media, in the half-finished ‘ghost estates’ that littered the Irish countryside. 190 These post-crash books were cutting and critical. But such comprehensive analyses, commentators noted, were mostly absent during the boom years, from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s, when Ireland’s economy expanded with unprecedented growth.
    [Show full text]
  • Irish Political Review, December 2008
    Historians? Irish Times Censors Never Mind Lisbon. Brendan Clifford SIPTU on Budget What About London? Manus O'Riordan Labour Comment page 14 page 5 back page IRISH POLITICAL REVIEW ecember 2008 Vol.23, No.12 ISSN 0790-7672 and Northern Star incorporating Workers' Weekly Vol.22 No.12 ISSN 954-5891 War And Remembrance Budget 2009: Nationalist Ireland has this year celebrated the 90th anniversary of its victory in the End of an Era? Great War. All the stops were pulled out to glorify it and make us forget what it was. A fashionable theory about nations, advocated by Professor Comerford of Maynooth amongst many, is that they are "invented" by forgetfulness of their actual past and This was the first budget in more than mythical remembrance of a past that never was. Whatever about nations, that is certainly 20 years that was prepared in the context of recession and rapidly deteriorating .the way that the Great War is having greatness restored to it. At the end of the Great war the nationalist Irish responded to their experience of it by public finances. GNP will contract by 1% voting to have done with the Empire that launched it. In the mostly keenly contested next year. The budget itself and the manner election held in Ireland for a generation, in December 1918, the electorate brushed aside in which the political reaction was dealt the one party system established by John Redmond's movement by Tammany Hall with indicate that the Government is in a methods, and returned the Sinn Fein party.
    [Show full text]
  • Cat Smith MP Transforming Democracy Prem Sikka Industrial Strategy Dave Lister Academy Failures Plus Book & Film Reviews
    #290 working_01 cover 27/12/2017 01:09 Page 1 CHARTIST For democratic socialism #290 January/February 2018 £2 Tories on thin ice John Palmer Peter Kenyon Brexit follies Mica Nava Sexual abuse Mary Southcott Cat Smith MP Transforming democracy Prem Sikka Industrial strategy Dave Lister Academy failures plus Book & Film reviews ISSN - 0968 7866 ISSUE www.chartist.org.uk #290 working_01 cover 27/12/2017 01:09 Page 2 Contributions and letters deadline for Editorial Policy CHARTIST #291 The editorial policy of CHARTIST is to promote debate amongst people active in 08 February 2018 radical politics about the contemporary Chartist welcomes articles of 800 or 1500 words, and relevance of democratic socialism across letters in electronic format only to: [email protected] the spectrum of politics, economics, science, philosophy, art, interpersonal Receive Chartist’s online newsletter: send your email address to [email protected] relations – in short, the whole realm of social life. Chartist Advert Rates: Our concern is with both democracy and socialism. The history of the last century Inside Full page £200; 1/2 page £125; 1/4 page £75; 1/8 page £40; 1/16 page £25; small box 5x2cm £15 single has made it abundantly clear that the sheet insert £50 mass of the population of the advanced We are also interested in advert swaps with other publications. To place an advert, please email: capitalist countries will have no interest [email protected] in any form of socialism which is not thoroughly democratic in its principles, its practices, its morality and its ideals.
    [Show full text]
  • Irish Responses to Fascist Italy, 1919–1932 by Mark Phelan
    Provided by the author(s) and NUI Galway in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite the published version when available. Title Irish responses to Fascist Italy, 1919-1932 Author(s) Phelan, Mark Publication Date 2013-01-07 Item record http://hdl.handle.net/10379/3401 Downloaded 2021-09-27T09:47:44Z Some rights reserved. For more information, please see the item record link above. Irish responses to Fascist Italy, 1919–1932 by Mark Phelan A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Supervisor: Prof. Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh Department of History School of Humanities National University of Ireland, Galway December 2012 ABSTRACT This project assesses the impact of the first fascist power, its ethos and propaganda, on key constituencies of opinion in the Irish Free State. Accordingly, it explores the attitudes, views and concerns expressed by members of religious organisations; prominent journalists and academics; government officials/supporters and other members of the political class in Ireland, including republican and labour activists. By contextualising the Irish response to Fascist Italy within the wider patterns of cultural, political and ecclesiastical life in the Free State, the project provides original insights into the configuration of ideology and social forces in post-independence Ireland. Structurally, the thesis begins with a two-chapter account of conflicting confessional responses to Italian Fascism, followed by an analysis of diplomatic intercourse between Ireland and Italy. Next, the thesis examines some controversial policies pursued by Cumann na nGaedheal, and assesses their links to similar Fascist initiatives. The penultimate chapter focuses upon the remarkably ambiguous attitude to Mussolini’s Italy demonstrated by early Fianna Fáil, whilst the final section recounts the intensely hostile response of the Irish labour movement, both to the Italian regime, and indeed to Mussolini’s Irish apologists.
    [Show full text]
  • Transatlantic Connections 2 Confer - That He Made, and the Major Global and Transatlantic Projects He Is Currently Ence, 2015
    GETTING TO BUNDORAN Located at Donegal’s most southerly point, Bundoran is the first stop as you enter the county from Sligo and Leitrim on the main N15 Sligo to Donegal Road. By Car By Coach Bundoran can be reached by the following routes: Bus Eireann’s Route 30 provides regular coach TRANSATLANTIC From Dublin via Cavan, Enniskillen N3 service from Dublin City and Dublin Airport From Dublin via Sligo N4 - N15 to Donegal. Get off the bus at Ballyshannon From Galway via Sligo N17 - N15 Station in County Donegal. Complimentary CONNECTIONS 2 From Belfast via Enniskillen M1 - A4 - A46 transfer from Ballyshannon to Bundoran; advanced booking necessary A Drew University Conference in Ireland buseireann.com SPECIAL THANKS Our sincere gratitude to the Institute of Study Abroad Ireland for its cooperation and partnership with Drew January 1 5–18, 2015 University. Many thanks also to Michael O’Heanaigh at Donegal County Council, Shane Smyth at Discover Bundoran, Martina Bromley and Joan Crawford at Failte Ireland, Gary McMurray for kind use of Bundoran, Donegal, Ireland cover photograph, Marc Geagan from North West Regional College, Tadhg Mac Phaidin and staff at Club Na Muinteori, Maura Logue, Marion Rose McFadden, Travis Feezell from University of the Ozarks, Tara Hoffman and Melvin Harmon at AFS USA, Kevin Lowery, Elizabeth Feshenfeld, Rebeccah Newman, Macken - zie Suess, and Lynne DeLade, all who made invaluable contributions to the organization of the conference. KEYNOTE SPEAKERS DON MULLAN “From Journey to Justice” Stories of Tragedy and Triumph from Bloody Sunday to the WWI Christmas Truces Thursday, 15 January • 8:30 p.m.
    [Show full text]
  • Palestine in Irish Politics a History
    Palestine in Irish Politics A History The Irish State and the ‘Question of Palestine’ 1918-2011 Sadaka Paper No. 8 (Revised edition 2011) Compiled by Philip O’Connor July 2011 Sadaka – The Ireland Palestine Alliance, 7 Red Cow Lane, Smithfield, Dublin 7, Ireland. email: [email protected] web: www.sadaka.ie Bank account: Permanent TSB, Henry St., Dublin 1. NSC 990619 A/c 16595221 Contents Introduction – A record that stands ..................................................................... 3 The ‘Irish Model’ of anti-colonialism .................................................................... 3 The Irish Free State in the World ........................................................................ 4 The British Empire and the Zionist project........................................................... 5 De Valera and the Palestine question ................................................................. 6 Ireland and its Jewish population in the fascist era ............................................. 8 De Valera and Zionism ........................................................................................ 9 Post-war Ireland and the State of Israel ............................................................ 10 The UN: Frank Aiken’s “3-Point Plan for the Middle East” ................................ 12 Ireland and the 1967 War .................................................................................. 13 The EEC and Garret Fitzgerald’s promotion of Palestinian rights ..................... 14 Brian Lenihan and the Irish
    [Show full text]
  • An Bord Snip
    An Bord Snip: Cutting Childhood Short July 2009 The Children’s Rights Alliance is a coalition of over 90 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working to secure the rights and needs of children in Ireland, by campaigning for the full implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It aims to improve the lives of all children under 18, through securing the necessary changes in Ireland’s laws, policies and services. Membership The Alliance was formally established in March 1995. Many of its member organisations are prominent in the children’s sector – working directly with children on a daily basis across the country. The Alliance’s policies, projects and activities are developed through ongoing collaboration and consultation with its member organisations. Vision Ireland will be one of the best places in the world to be a child Mission To realise the rights of children in Ireland through securing the full implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child July 2009 ©2009 Children’s Rights Alliance – Republic of Ireland Limited The Children’s Rights Alliance is a registered charity – CHY No. 11541 This is an in-house publication For any enquiries or to obtain additional copies of this paper, please contact: Children’s Rights Alliance 4 Upper Mount Street Dublin 2 Tel: +353.1.662 9400 Fax: +353.1.662 9355 Email: [email protected] Web: www.childrensrights.ie The Alliance grants permission for the reproduction of quotations from this text, provided due acknowledgement of the source is made and provided such citations do not exceed 400 words in length.
    [Show full text]
  • ESB HALO LAUNCH Energy Solutions Page 12
    issn no. 0790-7508 The newspaper for Dec 2010 / Jan 2011 www.esb.ie/em ESB HALO LAUNCH EneRGY soluTIons PAGE 12 ESBI wins Chief Executive Christmas Engineers message Ireland CPD neWS, page 03 Company of the Year Award 8ESBI was recently announced winner of the Large Company Category Bring the Light NEWS Award at the Engineers page 09 Ireland CPD Company of the Year Awards 2010 THE AWARD, which was pre- sented to ESBI by the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Mary Coughlan TD, rec- ognises ESBI’s work in design- i n g a nd i mple me nt i n g t he P r o je c t Delivery Model (PDM) for large- Women in scale capital projects and the creation of a permanent Project Engineering Management Office (PMO) to ESBI support the ongoing develop- page 21 ment and improvement of the methodology. As part of this process, ESBI undertook an organisation-wide initiative to improve the effi- ciency and effectiveness of the delivery of large-scale capital projects in ESB. The initiative, which was informed by a strate- gic review of major capital projects previously undertaken by ESB, drew extensively on a range of CPD methodologies to instil a sustainable and consist- ent approach to project manage- In this issue ment which will ultimately sup- port the realisation of ESB’s n News ..........................02 strategic objectives and meet n Energy Solutions ..............12 the challenges of a rapidly n ESB Networks Ltd ............16 changing energy sector. n ESB Energy International .....19 A HAPPY AND PEACEFUL CHRISTMAS TO ALL n Health & Habitat
    [Show full text]
  • Defence Forces Review 2020 Defence Forces Review 2020
    Defence Forces Review 2020 Defence Forces Review 2020 ISSN 1649-7066 DISCLAIMER The material and views expressed in these papers are those of the authors, which have been subject to academic peer review, and do not indicate official approval of the Defence Forces or the Department of Defence. Published for the Military Authorities by the Public Relations Section at the Chief of Staff’s Branch, and printed at the Defence Forces Printing Press, Infirmary Road, Dublin 7. © Copyright in accordance with Section 56 of the Copyright Act, 1963, Section 7 of the University of Limerick Act, 1989 and Section 6 of the Dublin University Act, 1989. 1 Launch of the Defence Forces Review In conjunction with an Academic Seminar Dublin City University, 3rd December, 2020 Defence Forces Review 2020 Preface “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” (Harry Truman, US President 1945 – ‘53) Building on the success of last year’s Review, launch and positive reaction 2020’s Review is themed ‘The global island: Strategic implications for Irish defence planning in the evolving geopolitical landscape.’ This is a pertinent topic in light of the Defence Commission proposed in the 2020 Programme for Government, which is set to look at “the medium- and longer term defence requirements of the State…” The Defence Forces Review provides a forum in which contributors can present their research and facilitate discussion on a wide range of defence-related matters for the benefit of the wider Defence Community in Ireland and beyond. Sadly, due to Covid 19 restrictions we will be unable to have a normal launch of the Review.
    [Show full text]
  • Fianna Fáil: Past and Present
    Fianna Fáil: Past and Present Alan Byrne Fianna Fáil were the dominant political prompted what is usually referred to as party in Ireland from their first term in gov- a civil-war but as Kieran Allen argues in ernment in the 1930s up until their disas- an earlier issue of this journal, the Free trous 2011 election. The party managed to State in effect mounted a successful counter- enjoy large support from the working class, revolution which was thoroughly opposed to as well as court close links with the rich- the working class movement.3 The defeat est people in Irish society. Often described signalled the end of the aspirations of the as more of a ‘national movement’ than a Irish revolution and the stagnation of the party, their popular support base has now state economically. Emigration was par- plummeted. As this article goes to print, ticularly high in this period, and the state the party (officially in opposition but en- was thoroughly conservative. The Catholic abling a Fine Gael government) is polling Church fostered strong links with Cumann at 26% approval.1 How did a party which na nGaedheal, often denouncing republicans emerged from the losing side of the civil war in its sermons. come to dominate Irish political life so thor- There were distinctive class elements to oughly? This article aims to trace the his- both the pro and anti-treaty sides. The tory of the party, analyse their unique brand Cumann na nGaedheal government drew its of populist politics as well as their relation- base from large farmers, who could rely on ship with Irish capitalism and the working exports to Britain.
    [Show full text]