A Policy Trajectory Analysis of the National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030 in Ireland - An Institutes of Technology Perspective

The National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030 was commissioned by the Higher Education Authority and was published in 2011 under the chair of Colin Hunt. The National Strategy, along with policy implementation and review documents, makes some radical proposals for the reconfiguration of the HE landscape in Ireland with much of the focus on the restructuring of the non-university sector, particularly the fourteen Institutes of Technology (IoTs), while maintaining a “binary divide”. The reform agenda has provided many challenges to the Institutes of Technology sector, and a policy trajectory approach to policy analysis is adopted to investigate the proposed changes to the Institutes of Technology sector. The tensions and shift in power dynamics are key elements to the process of reform in what is a contested space. These tensions are explored from the perspective of the Institutes of Technology sector through a process of critical discourse analysis conducted in the policy document and semi-structured interviews with key policy stakeholders. A historical policy review of the evolution of the non-university sector in Ireland, alternative models in the European Higher Education Area and alternative proposals to the Hunt Report are used as counterpoints to frame the analysis. The analysis revealed that while the Report was initially broadly welcomed, the proposals and their implementation are far more complex and contentious, and there is less cohesion, particularly in the Institutes of Technology, on how the sector can ensure parity of esteem with, and a distinctive mission from, the traditional university sector

The Church of Ireland and the native Irish population in plantation Ulster

Paper presented at the conference 'Protestant Traditions and the Paths to Peace: Beyond the Legacies of Plantation', Global Irish Institute, University College, Dublin, 9 June 2009This largely historiographical paper examines the initial inclusion of native Gaelic clergy in the plantation church in Ulster and their gradual disappearance over the course the next twenty-five years. This was a highly significant development for it meant that the Ulster church took on a markedly Anglo-centric profile and religion, rather than functioning as a potential bridge between the indigenous and immigrant communities, instead was to become one of the most potent markers of division and hostility between natives and newcomers.Not applicableThe author is affiliated to the school of history and archives. au, ti - TS 03/08/1

Religious conflict in Ireland, 1500-1660

The early modern period witnessed the establishment of deeply-entrenched rival religious confessions in Ireland, which exhibited a constant potential for sectarian conflict down to the close of the twentieth century. This process was carried to its extreme in the northern province of Ulster where early modern Protestant immigration into Ireland reached its highest point, resulting in the development of a Catholic identity which was essentially Irish in its ethnic composition, a substantially Scottish Presbyterian strand, and a politically-dominant Anglican population of largely English origin. But even in the southern provinces of Connacht, Leinster and Munster, the basis of what was to become an independent and highly Catholic state in the twentieth century, as a result of the events of the early modern period different local religious communities were forced into an uneasy co-existence. Outside Ulster, the complicating admixture of Protestant dissent and Scottish ethnicity was much reduced and few localities did not display a large Catholic majority, but the political dominance of the established church ensured at least a thin overlay of Protestants throughout the island, although in places such as parts of Connacht their numbers were extremely insignificant. Sectarian difference did not entail permanent conflict, mutual co-existence was the historical norm rather than the exception, yet the confessional identities were always at least latently antagonistic and when violence erupted it could take extraordinarily virulent forms. In this regard, the middle of the seventeenth century was arguably the period of greatest strife and loss of life, which copper-fastened the process of religious polarisation

‘The Miraculous Mathematics of the World’: Proving the Existence of God in Cardinal Péter Pázmány’s Kalauz

This paper offers a brief examination of Cardinal Péter Pázmány’s meditation on the role of the beauty and wonder of the natural world in leading to the true knowledge of God, which is placed at the beginning of his most important work, the Guide to the Divine Truth (Isteni Igazsàgra Vezérlô Kalauz). Pázmány’s treatment of this subject offers an insight into the Catholic intellectual milieu which ultimately rejected the Copernican cosmology championed by Galileo in favour of a geocentric and geostatic universe. In this regard, the confidence with which Pázmány asserts the harmony and compatibility between secular knowledge and apprehension of nature and the conviction of the existence of a creator God is of particular importance. An analysis of this section of his work also points up a surprising contrast with Calvin’s treatment of the same subject in the Institutes of the Christian Religion. Pázmány was raised within the Reformed tradition until his teenage years and as a Catholic polemicist he devoted great attention to Calvin’s writings. Indeed, to some extent it can be suggested that the Institutes served as both target and model for his own great work. Yet his handling of the topic of nature as a proof of the existence of God, an area where relatively little difference might have been expected in view of its non-salience as a polemical issue, not only offers a revealing insight into the confident intellectual perspective of seventeenth-century Catholicism, but also suggests some additional ramifications of the great sola scriptura debate which split European Christianity in the early modern period

The Heroic Importance of Sport: The GAA in the 1930s

This article examines the cultural importance accorded to sporting activity by Ireland's largest sporting organisation, the Gaelic Athletic Association, during the 1930s. Making use of the source material provided by a short-lived paper funded by the GAA, as well as the minutes of its central organisational bodies, it examines the paradigm of opposed Irish and British civilisations which underpinned ideas of the cultural role of sport. The article suggests that many of the attitudes evinced by the GAA actually derived from nineteenth century and contemporary British notions of team games and athletic competition. Nevertheless, by transforming sporting choice and preference into a badge of national identity, the article suggests that the GAA performed an important role within the touchy nationalism of the newly independent Irish Free State, and its conviction of its own importance helped fuel the elaboration of a genuinely distinctive variant of the European practice of sport

Early Modern Catholic Perspectives on the Biblical Text

The importance of the Bible to the Reformed traditions within Christianity is of course a truism. But the weight which the bible exercised over European Catholicism is sometimes under-estimated. As Maria Rosa has demonstrated, the influence of scriptural models influenced many different parts of life in Italy, not least in the realm of political theory. Figures such as Benito Montano whose De optimo imperio, sive in lib. Josuae commentarium (1589) was followed in 1592 by De varia republica, sive commentaria in librum Judicum or Francois Regeau who produced Leges politicae ex Sacae Scripturai libris collectae in 1615 or the avvisi of the Accademia dei Virtuosi in and around the pontificate of Gregory XV testified to the massive influence of Scripture within reformed Catholicism in creating a new political theory specifically opposed to Machiavellian conceptions of reason of state. Indeed, the determination with which the Italian vernacular scriptures were pursued in the sixteenth century is itself testimony to the importance which was accorded to the word of the Bible and the authority of the Vulgate. This in some respects reached a crescendo with Felice Peretti, the future Sixtus V, who spent a period of disfavour in revising Ambrosine texts and replacing their biblical quotations with the wording of the Vulgate. In Early Modern Rome it was certainly believed that the Bible must be removed from unsafe hands and there was a strong insistence on the authority of unwritten tradition but nevertheless Scripture remained the centre of gravity of Catholic thought also. Thus the very first book of Robert Bellarmine’s Controversiae, in many respects the paradigmatic text of early modern Catholicism, laid out the Catholic understanding of the primary importance of the Scriptures. At no point was Bellarmine prepared to concede that any form of Protestantism was more securely anchored in Scripture: on the contrary he insisted “nam Scripturam nos pluris facimus, quàm illi[the reformers]”.Embargo of 24 months applies - A

Disappointing Friends: France and the Confederate Catholics of Ireland, 1642-48

This article examines the interactions between the Confederate Catholics of Ireland and France during the 1640s. Despite the mutual goodwill between the governments, ultimately this relationship proved disappointing to both parties. The Confederate Catholics did not receive the level of support from France which they had hoped for from the beginning of the rebellion in Ireland. On the other hand, France’s policies in Ireland largely failed. Mazarin’s government failed to make use of Irish resources to fashion a successful anti-parliamentarian coalition in Ireland as a launching-pad for the resuscitation of the royalist position throughout the archipelago. French recruitment policies in Ireland also proved unsuccessful as the French received fewer recruits during the Confederate period than either immediately before or immediately after the association’s existence. From their perspective, a certain limited advantage was gained by the fact that Spain also was unable to profit from Irish recruiting grounds during the 1640s, but the failure of the attempts to re-establish the Stuart monarchy ultimately undermined even this small achievement, when Spain gained disproportionately from the mass exodus of Irish soldiers following the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in the early 1650s.Cet article s’intéresse aux interactions entre la Confédération catholique d’Irlande et la France dans les années 1640. Malgré une bonne volonté partagée, les relations entre les deux gouvernements s’avérèrent décevantes pour les deux parties. L’aide que la France apporta à la Confédération ne fut pas à la hauteur des espoirs que cette dernière avait fondés dès le début de l’insurrection en Irlande. Parallèlement, la politique menée par la France en Irlande fut globalement un échec – le gouvernement de Mazarin ne put utiliser les ressources irlandaises pour former une coalition contre le parlement anglais et se servir de l’Irlande comme d’un tremplin pour raviver les forces royalistes dans tout l’archipel. Les tentatives françaises de recruter des soldats irlandais échouèrent également. En effet, les armées françaises reçurent moins de recrues irlandaises pendant la période où la Confédération était au pouvoir qu’avant sa création ou après sa dissolution. Du point de vue français, le fait que l’Espagne fut également dans l’incapacité de recruter des soldats en Irlande dans les années 1640 représentait un certain avantage, quoique restreint. Mais ce succès limité fut encore amoindri par l’échec des tentatives de restoration de la monarchie Stuart et l’avantage disproportionné donné à l’Espagne lors de l’exode massif de soldats irlandais vers le continent après la reconquête de l’Irlande par Oliver Cromwell au tournant des années 1650

Who Were the « Wild Geese »

More than 200 000 Irishmen served in the armies of Louis XIV and Louis XV. Whilst some were in France prior to 1690, the largest single cohort crossed over to France with Patrick Sarsfield, loyal to the Stuart king, James II, after the signature of the Treaty of Limerick in 1691. They served in Irish regiments, popularly called the « Wild Geese » which had distinctive uniforms and flags and their own officer corps. Recruitment to the Irish Brigade continued up to the 1780s. One useful source of information on their place of origin, service, command structure, longevity, trades and marital status is provided by the records of the Hotel Royal des Invalides which lists details of over 2 100 Irish ; these are examined in the present text.Plus de 200 000 Irlandais ont servi dans les armées de Louis XIV et Louis XV. Bien que certains fussent en France avant 1690, un grand nombre d'entre eux arrivèrent dans le pays avec Patrick Sarsfield après la signature du Traité de Limerick en 1691. Groupés dans des régiments irlandais, appelés familièrement « Les Oies Sauvages », ils avaient leurs propres uniformes, drapeaux et corps d'officiers. Le recrutement pour cette Brigade Irlandaise continua jusqu'aux années 1780. Une source très utile d'information concernant 2 100 de ces hommes, leurs lieux d'origine, leur organisation, longévité, métiers et situation domestique se trouve dans les registres de l'Hôtel Royal des Invalides, ce qui sera l'objet d'analyse de ce texte.O Hannracháin Eoghan. Who Were the « Wild Geese ». In: Études irlandaises, n°25-1, 2000. pp. 105-123