Defining Events : Power, Resistance and Identity in Twenty-first-century Ireland

This book re-visits and re-thinks some recent defining events in Irish society. Each chapter focuses on an event that has occurred since the start of the twenty first century. Some were high profile, some were ‘fringe’ events, others were widely discussed in popular culture at the time. A number of chapters focus on key moments of protest and popular mobilisation. All of the events covered provide rich insights into the dynamics of Irish society; exposing underlying and complex issues of identity, power and resistance that animate public debate. The book ultimately encourages readers to question the sources of, limits and obstacles to change in contemporary Ireland. The book brings together critical commentators from a diverse range of social science disciplines. These writers make important contributions to intellectual life and discourse about social, economic and cultural issues in today’s Ireland. This makes for an original, timely and genuinely inter-disciplinary text. This book re-visits and re-thinks some recent defining events in Irish society. Some of these are high profile and occupy a prominent place in public consciousness, such as the announcement of the banking guarantee and the publication of the Ryan report into clerical child abuse, while others are 'fringe' events which attracted less attention, such as the launch of Indymedia.ie, or were widely discussed in popular culture, like the publication of Donal Óg Cusack's autobiography or the opening of Dundrum Town Centre. The book critically explores issues of equality, belonging and rights as they impact on diverse communities in Ireland, be they older people, migrants or LGBT people. As focal points for each chapter, all of the events covered in the book provide rich insights into the dynamics of Irish society in the twenty-first century. All expose underlying and complex issues of identity, power and resistance that animate public debate. In so doing, the book ultimately encourages readers to question the sources of, limits and obstacles to change in contemporary Ireland. This book brings together in a single volume the experience, research and analysis of critical commentators from a diverse range of disciplines across the social sciences, and provides an important contribution to discourse about social, economic and cultural issues in today's Ireland. This makes for an original, timely and genuinely inter-disciplinary text Front matter Contents List of tables Notes on contributors Series editor’s foreword Acknowlegements Abbreviations Introduction The birth of Indymedia.ie: a critical space for social movements in Ireland In the way of development: Tara, the M3 and the Celtic Tiger Carts, horses and carriages: love and (same-sex) marriage in the twenty-first century Making ‘race’ an issue in the 2004 Irish Citizenship Referendum ‘The centre of everything’: Ireland at the Dundrum Town Centre ‘Taking back the neighbourhood’: the introduction of ASBOs All that shimmers is not gold: the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission and Garda accountability State to the rescue: the bank guarantee and Ireland’s financialised neo-liberal growth model Worlds turned upside down? The Older People’s Uprising, 2008 Cutting back on equality The Ryan Report: reformatory and industrial schools and twentieth-century Ireland Gay in the GAA: the challenge of Dónal Óg Cusack’s ‘coming out’ to hetero-normativity in contemporary Irish culture and society Index