The International Politics of Ireland's EU/IMF Bailout

In 2010, Ireland’s financial crisis threatened the stability of the global financial system, precipitating an international rescue package of 85 billion euro. This article analyses the bailout from an international relations perspective in order to gain a deeper insight into the nature of the political pressures that forced the negotiators to compromise over the design and content of Ireland’s programme of financial support. It does so by drawing on recent academic research on the politics of IMF decision-making. The lessons from this literature can help to shed light on one of the most important events in post-Independence Ireland

Corruption, Institutions and Regulation

We analyze the effects of corruption and institutional quality on the quality of business regulation. Our key findings indicate that corruption negatively affects the quality of regulation and that general institutional quality is insignificant once corruption is con- trolled for. These findings hold over a number of specifications which include additional exogenous historical and geographic controls. The findings imply that policy-makers should focus on curbing corruption to improve regulation, over wider institutional re- form.Business Regulation; Economic Policy; Institutional Quality; Corruption

Domestic interests, international bargaining, and IMF lending

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) treats its members very differently; some of the countries that borrow from the Fund receive huge loans while others in similar circumstances receive smaller loans. In this article, I argue that the difference in treatment is determined largely by domestic political conflict in the IMF’s most powerful member-states. My contention is that the IMF offers governments bigger loans when interest groups in the G-5 (the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Japan) pressure their governments into achieving this outcome. While domestic political processes in the G-5 drive government policy towards the IMF, governments must also bargain with one another on the international stage if they are to influence IMF policy. With few exceptions, most previous research has tended to ‘black box’ the intergovernmental aspect of this process. In this article, I set out and test a novel explanation of how governments arrive at collective decisions through a system of logrolling. By illustrating the sources of variation in IMF lending, this article contributes to our understanding of power and decision-making in international organizations. Moreover, it also provides an insight into the causes of the recent surge in the IMF’s lending activity since the onset of the global financial crisis

Can’t See the Wood for the Trees: The Returns to Farm Forestry in Ireland

working paperThe period 2007-2009 witnessed considerable variability in the price of outputs such as milk and cereals and this was compounded by a high degree of volatility in the price of inputs such as fertilizer, animal feed and energy. Previously, Irish farms have used the returns to off-farm employment as well as agricultural support payments such as the Single Farm Payment (SFP) and the Rural Environmental Protection Scheme (REPS) to protect their living standards against low and uncertain agricultural market returns. However, the downturn in the Irish economy has led to a reduction in the availability of off-farm employment and also the discontinuation of REPS. This may lead to an increase in afforestation on Irish farms, as forestry offers greater certainty through the provision of an annual premium in addition to the SFP. However, the decision to afforest represents a significant long-term investment decision that should not be entered into without careful economic consideration. The aim of this paper is to use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis method to calculate the returns to forestry under alternative opportunity costs associated with conventional agricultural activities being superseded. The returns to forestry are calculated using the Forestry Investment Value Estimator (FIVE). These returns were then incorporated in the DCF model along with the returns to five conventional agricultural enterprises, which would potentially be superseded by forestry. This approach allows for the calculation of the Net Present Value (NPV) of three forestry scenarios

Two alternative descriptions of person

The main concern of this thesis is to explore the possibility of discovering an alternative approach to the understanding of person-hood, an approach which is not dominated either by severe empiricism on the one hand or extreme dualism on the other, but one which finds a new way of unravelling the mystery of what it is to be a person. Chapter one is an introduction to the thesis as a whole. Chapter Two is an exposition of the dualist position and particularly that of Professor H. D. Lewis. Chapter Three is offered as a possible way forward towards an alternative model of personhood. Chapter Four deals largely with the theological implications of the preceeding two chapters, and Chapter Five is a brief conclusion of the discussion. There has been a deliberate attempt throughout the thesis to aim at breadth and a broad based examination of the criteria of personhood and perhaps the thesis will stand or fall by its success or otherwise in doing this

IMF conditionality and the economic exposure of its shareholders

There is substantial evidence that International Monetary Fund policies are driven by the powerful states which intervene to align policy with their preferences. In particular, many have argued that the United States uses its position as the Fund’s largest shareholder to achieve its foreign policy objectives. As a result, a substantial volume of literature argues and presents evidence to support the claim that International Monetary Fund decisions faithfully reflect US interests. My findings extend these claims. Using a new dataset on the presence in International Monetary Fund agreements of binding conditions, which cause the agreement to be suspended or terminated if they are not met, I demonstrate that International Monetary Fund agreements contain fewer binding conditions when a suspension of International Monetary Fund lending plausibly would impose greater hardship on creditor country banks and exporters

A New Direction for the Payment of Milk: Technological and Seasonality Considerations in Multiple Component Milk Pricing of Milk (Liquid and Manufacturing) for a Diversifying Dairy Industry

End of project reportThe main objectives of this study were to compare a Multiple Component Pricing system with the current milk pricing practice in Ireland and to estimate the marginal values of the three main milk components (fat, protein and lactose) in the context of the Irish milk processing industry. A representative linear programming model of an average Irish milk processor was developed in order to determine the marginal values of the milk components and to compare the value of milk under the Multiple Component Pricing system with the value under the current milk pricing practice. This study also examined the effect of product mix, milk supply and milk composition on the marginal value of the milk components

A Tale of Two Centuries: Power and Influence as Sources of Media Content

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Through the Looking Glass: How the Mass Media Represent, Reflect and Refract Sexual Crime in Ireland

The publication of the Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland (SAVI) report (McGee, 2000) was a landmark event in the documenting of sexual crime in Ireland. The core of the report was based on the results of a survey of more than 3,000 members of the general public about their attitudes and beliefs and their own lifetime experiences of sexual violence. Commissioned by the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre and carried out by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, the report chronicled as never before the extent of sexual abuse and violence in Ireland