The Political Economy of the Irish Welfare State : Church, State and Capital

The political economy of the Irish welfare state provides a fascinating interpretation of the evolution of social policy in modern Ireland, as the product of a triangulated relationship between church, state and capital. Using official estimates, Professor Powell demonstrates that the welfare state is vital for the cohesion of Irish society with half the population at risk of poverty without it. However, the reality is of a residual welfare system dominated by means tests, with a two-tier health service, a dysfunctional housing system driven by an acquisitive dynamic of home-ownership at the expense of social housing, and an education system that is socially and religiously segregated. Using the evolution of the Irish welfare state as a narrative example of the incompatibility of political conservatism, free market capitalism and social justice, the book offers a new and challenging view on the interface between structure and agency in the formation and democratic purpose of welfare states, as they increasingly come under critical review and restructuring by elites. Book jacket THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE IRISH WELFARE STATE Contents Preface Introduction The colonial context The Irish Revolution The ‘Church-State Alliance’ Economic modernisation and development Cultural modernisation and secularisation Crisis, austerity and democracy 1. Why the welfare state matters Origins of the welfare state Welfare and citizenship The welfare state under pressure The Irish welfare state: myth or reality? Understanding Irish social policy Justice, decency and social obligation Conclusion 2. Revolution, culture and society Cultural nationalism: ‘the stirring of the bones’ Slum dramas and social realism Sinn Fein: ‘A movement of movements’ Poverty and people Rural exodus, unemployment and diaspora The labour movement, syndicalism and popular militancy The Democratic Programme 1919 Women, new identities and changing gender relations Popular culture, youth mobilisation and national identity Conclusion 3. Welfare in the Free State The 1922 Constitution Politics and society The first-wave welfare state The politics of austerity Property, housing, and urban development The Irish Poor Law legacy in national consciousness Poor Law and health services Austerity and insurance reform ‘An attack on the old and blind’ Women’s rights, insurance and maternity benefit The detention of single mothers The Great Depression and populist politics Unemployment and social assistance ‘Invasion of industry by women’: Conditions of Employment Bill 1935 De Valera’s demographic project: children’s allowances and family poverty Conclusion 4. Religious nationalism, sectarianism and anti-semitism Religion, education and cultural policy Religion, culture and identity Education, sectarianism and cultural segregation Anti-semitism, refugees and asylum policy Public morality, youth and sexuality Censorship and women’s subordination The 1937 Constitution and family solidarity The Catholic social movement and organic community Social Catholicism, corporatism and vocationalism Muintir na Tire and rural community development Urban social protest and political activism Intellectual dissent and social policy Conclusion 5. The welfare state debate Secular humanism, civil virtue and social reform Modernisation, clientelism and social rights Religious cosmologies and welfare states The British welfare state in Northern Ireland Welfare state or ‘servile state’: the making of the Irish ‘third way’ The politics of health The health debate: defending inequality and residualisation Human rights, mental health and community care Social service councils: the Catholic Church and voluntarism Education, segregation and modernisation Youth culture, emigration and modernisation Housing crisis, urban policy and land speculation Homelessness and housing action The ‘ad hoc’ development of the social welfare system Conclusion 6. Poverty and social inequality The meaning and scale of Irish poverty The Irish poverty debate: structural versus trickledown theory The media, poverty and ‘fake news’ The birth and death of a poverty programme: ‘A tuppence halfpenny committee?’ The National Anti-Poverty Strategy and the politics of poverty measurement Social inequality and the distribution of wealth Conclusion 7. Liberty, gender and sexuality Modernisation, identity and modernity The emergence of an open society Social reform and clerical resistance The media and sexuality Gender, poverty and abuse Modernisation and liberty New social movements and Irish cultural politics The rise of the women’s movement: ‘second-wave feminism’ The politics of reproductive rights The Kerry babies case: ‘a modern-day witch-hunt’ The abortion debate Divorce and family politics Gay rights and the decriminalisation of homosexuality The politics of change The politics of secrets: the child abuse scandals Conclusion 8. The marketisation of the welfare state The residual welfare state, market values and institutional voids Path development, European integration and social partnership Welfare productivist capitalism and the knowledge economy The Celtic Tiger economic boom Economic development, capital and political corruption The ‘social partnership project’ Neoliberalism, modernisation and the welfare state The developmental welfare state: ‘Recasting the Irish social debate’ The Irish model: a failed welfare state? Conclusion 9. Crisis, austerity and water Alchemy, greed and ‘leprechaun economics’ Property bubble and housing crisis Austerity, welfare and water The Apple tax debacle: the contradictions of Irish public policy Conclusion 10. Conclusion References Index