Irish social policy: A critical introduction: Second edition

This book is about social policy in the Irish context. It offers a way of understanding social policy in Ireland by looking at the past; introducing wider theoretical debates and issues; examining specific social-service areas and their development and current position in Ireland; and exploring the position and treatment of different social groups. In bringing the different elements of social policy together in this way we hope to provide, but also to go beyond, a descriptive account of issues and events, and encompass a critical examination of them. The analysis of social policy presented here is shaped by attention to core social policy concepts which requires an openness to question and critique both the achievements and limits of social policy. In doing so we draw on critical traditions within social policy. We attempt to emphasise not only the importance of class inequalities but also wider critical frames related to, for example, gender, age and ethnicity, to consider different interpretations and views about the nature, development, scope and impact of Irish social policy and the Irish welfare state. This approach is taken to acknowledge the complexity of social policy processes and debates, and to offer an introduction to the discipline which both provokes and challenges discussion about Irish social policy, its limits and its potential. Our attempts to offer a relatively comprehensive and critical introduction also has drawbacks; attention to different issues and perspectives is at times uneven, more brief than we would have liked, and leaves many gaps.