The austerity that followed the recent economic and financial crisis in has led to impassioned debates across the social sciences and the public at large. Although Ireland was not its only victim, the depth of the interacting economic, banking and budgetary crises has meant that the level of public interest has been especially intense. Among the hotly debated questions: what is austerity? Was it necessary? What have been its consequences? One of the defining features of the debate to date has been its tendency to polarise opinion and adopt a one-dimensional perspective. This book challenges us to adopt a more nuanced approach to understandings of austerity, and by extension the path to recovery. The book brings together leading national and international experts from across the social sciences to debate this traumatic period in Ireland’s economic and social development.
The papers were selected from a conference at the Royal Irish Academy, peer-reviewed and rewritten with the addition of a substantial introduction and conclusion by the editors.
Emma Heffernan is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Research Collaborative in Quality and Safety (RCQS) based at the RCSI / MU. She completed her PhD in anthropology at Maynooth University in 2011 and a Masters in Public Health in UCD in 2013. Emma is also a registered general nurse and holds a BSc (Hons) in Nursing from RCSI and a Postgraduate Diploma in Specialist Nursing from TCD. Her research interests include social exclusion, global health, social and cultural determinants of health and illness, sexuality, social epidemiology and public health.
John McHale is established professor of economics and director of the Whitaker Institute for Innovation and Societal Change at NUI Galway. He is also chairperson of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council. He previously held appointments as associate professor of managerial economics at the Queen's School of Business, Ontario and as assistant and associate professor of economics at Harvard University, where he also received his PhD in 1996. He is currently a member of the National Economic and Social Council, associate editor of the Economic and Social Review, and vice-president of the Irish Economics Association.
Niamh Moore-Cherry is associate professor and deputy head of the School of Geography, University College Dublin. She is an urban geographer and her research is focused on understanding how cities are governed; how urban policy is developed; and with what impacts. She is the author of Dublin Docklands Reinvented (Four Courts Press, 2008), has co-edited two books and has published papers in national and international journals. She is president of the Geographical Society of Ireland and a member of the Royal Irish Academy Social Sciences Committee.
