Drug use in Ireland and Northern Ireland: 2006/2007 drug prevalence survey: cocaine results: bulletin 4.

This bulletin provides a comprehensive overview of many different aspects of cocaine use in Ireland and Northern Ireland. It presents data gathered in the All Ireland Drug Prevalence Survey 2006/2007 relating to both cocaine powder and crack cocaine use on a lifetime (ever used), last year (recent use), and last month (current use) basis. The bulletin also examines age of first use, regular use, and method of taking cocaine, ease of obtaining cocaine, reasons for stopping use, perceptions of risk and the profile of cocaine users. The survey was carried out by Ipsos MORI in Ireland and by the Central Survey Unit of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency in Northern Ireland according to standards set by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)

Food, Brexit and Northern Ireland: Critical Issues

This report is the third in our Food Brexit Briefing series. It argues that the absence of serious consideration of food flows into, out of and through Northern Ireland is a significant policy omission in the ongoing Brexit negotiations. There has been much talk of the importance of Northern Ireland, but next to no detailed attention to the food implications of Brexit for Northern Ireland. The report makes the case that there is an urgent need to get down to detail over border arrangements, contingency planning and resource allocation. This is too important to leave to last-minute makeshift or muddle. Food is central to the economy of Northern Ireland, and the continuing supply of safe, high quality, healthy food is currently dependent on the absence of border controls between Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Great Britain and the rest of the European Union. Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of food criss-cross these borders every year. They are currently free from inspection because of shared, underpinning EU Single Market regulation. An unplanned or mishandled food border imposition is likely to have powerful, destabilising consequences for the integrated nature of food supply, trade and access within Northern Ireland for many years to come. It would raise important challenges for food safety, put jobs at risk, potentially constrain Northern Ireland’s access to health-supporting foods such as fruit and vegetables, and create opportunities for food fraud and crime. The report, by Gary McFarlane and Tony Lewis, both senior environmental health professionals and officers of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, and Professor Tim Lang, of the Centre for Food Policy at City, University of London, is based on a thorough review of food flows into, from and through Northern Ireland, and the practical experience of its authors. The report dismisses talk of ‘technological fixes’ to help maintain the smooth flow of goods as vague, unavailable now and unrealistic. It calls for all the governments and bodies involved in food and Brexit – the European Union, United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland itself – to set political differences aside in order to resolve the considerable practical challenges of cross-border food traffic. The authors make more than 30 recommendations to help that process

Are there changes in characteristics of UK higher education around the time of the 2006 Reforms (BIS research paper no. 14)

Analysis of Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data, 2002/3 to 2007/8 in response to the research question 'Are there any changes in the Characteristics of UK Higher Education around the time of the 2006 Reforms?' In analysing trends in student characteristics over the period between 2002 and 2007 the researchers identify areas where the 2006 reforms may have had an effect. It should be noted that the tables and charts presented in the report are descriptive

Drug use in Ireland & Northern Ireland 2006/2007: drug prevalence survey bulletin 2: Regional Drugs Task Force (Ireland) & Health and Social Services Board (Northern Ireland) results.

This bulletin presents key findings at a local level from the second drug prevalence survey of households in both Ireland and Northern Ireland. The survey sampled a representative number of people aged between 15 and 64 during late 2006 and early 2007. The survey was carried out by Ipsos MORI in Ireland and by the Central Survey Unit of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency in Northern Ireland according to standards set by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).This bulletin presents results relating to drug prevalence on a lifetime, last year (recent) and last month (current) basis for illegal and other drugs including alcohol and tobacco for each Regional Drug Task Force Area (former Health Board areas) in Ireland, and Health and Social Service Board (HSSB) in Northern Ireland

Fuel poverty, older people and cold weather: An all-island analysis

Executive Summary This report covers a number of different aspects of fuel poverty and older people. 1. An exploration of existing government survey data from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland with a particular focus on older people and conducting additional targeted analyses where required. 2. An original survey in the Republic of Ireland exploring the lived experience of older people in cold weather. 3. A feasibility study of data logging thermometers placed in the homes of older tenants in local authority accommodation. 4. Analysis of excess winter mortality among older people including a consideration of differences between the two jurisdictions. Older people on the island of Ireland, as in many other countries, experience a ‘dual burden’ in terms of fuel poverty. They are more likely to experience fuel poverty and are also particularly vulnerable to health and social harm as a result of this experience. The numbers of older people vulnerable to ill-effects from cold homes will rise as numbers of people aged 80 and over, and those living with chronic illness or disability, increase. There were significant differences observed between expenditure-based, and subjective (EU-SILC) based fuel poverty indicators, for older people, and between Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland data. This data required careful interpretation. The higher levels of fuel poverty recorded for older people on the island of Ireland appeared to be driven by all aspects of the fuel poverty model - poor housing condition, energy inefficient housing, rising fuel prices and low income. The majority of older people live in their own home and these homes tend to be older properties which are detached or semi-detached. Older people on the island are over-represented among houses which are in poor condition and which lack central heating in both jurisdictions. Lacking central heating was a more common experience for older people in the Republic of Ireland than in Northern Ireland. Data on energy efficiency measures were not comparable North/South but similar patterns were observed. Older people were less likely than the general population to have attic/loft or wall insulation or double glazing. Older people were also vulnerable from an income point of view. This would seem to be a particular issue in Northern Ireland where rates of income poverty are significantly increasing. In both jurisdictions older people were heavily reliant on social transfers to keep them out of poverty. Coupled with this, there is evidence that many older people are not claiming their full entitlements. Oil dependency was a particular issue in Northern Ireland. Very significant increases were observed in the price of heating oil, as well as electricity and gas in recent years. There was little available research evidence on the relationship between the older consumer and heating oil suppliers

Innovation policy in Ireland and Northern Ireland, 1991 to 2001 – the changing face of enterprise-level financial incentives for R&D

Systemic thinking on innovation policy highlights the breadth of policies which can influence innovation e.g. skills, inward investment, enterprise, regulation and competition policy. This suggests that innovation policy must be examined holistically, both in terms of the framework conditions to promote innovation as well as in terms of more targeted or specific policy to promote innovation at the enterprise level e.g. financial incentives to enterprises. It has been suggested that national innovation policy tends to reinforce the strengths of a country’s industrial system, particularly in relation to large firms and the promotion of R&D in core technologies and focuses less on innovation transfer which is often left to regional technological policy initiatives. In lagging regional economies, which are often dominated by SME’s, this presents specific challenges for innovation policy. This paper presents a comparative analysis of innovation policy at both the national and regional levels in Ireland and Northern Ireland respectively, over the 1990s. In both Ireland and Northern Ireland the period from 1991-99 was marked by expansion as measured by steady output growth for manufacturing as a whole (albeit at substantially lower levels in Northern Ireland than in Ireland). In Ireland this largely reflected rapid economic growth of output in the high-tech sectors, itself a consequence of inward investment and re-investment. Despite growth in gross expenditure on R&D over the 1990s closely related to output growth, Ireland’s investment in R&D (at 0.95% of GNP) lags behind Slovenia, Norway, the UK, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Finland, Sweden, the US and Japan. This paper assesses the role of national innovation policy in Ireland and regional innovation policy in Northern Ireland. A number of issues are addressed, such as; to what extent did innovation policy in Ireland and Northern Ireland merely sustain prevailing economic strengths or was it instrumental in overcoming specific deficiencies in R&D investment and moulding current economic strengths? What effect does the underlying industrial structure have in shaping innovation policy in terms of industrial sectors, ownership and the size distribution of firms? What differences are evident between national innovation policy initiatives and regional innovation initiatives, particularly in a lagging region? Innovation policy is examined in terms of targeted assistance i.e. direct government financial support for business sector investment in R&D. This is based on a database of all grant offers (Northern Ireland) and payments (Ireland) made by the industrial development agencies in Ireland and Northern Ireland over the 1991 to 2001 period which was developed for this paper. The paper emphasises issues concerning the concentration of R&D investment, change in the balance between pre-competitive and near market R&D and the move towards financial incentives for innovation transfer of R&D.

Improving knowledge regarding abortions performed on Irish women in the UK

This report provides an historical analysis of abortion data relating to residents of Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales over the period 1975 – 2005. The detailed analysis in this report provides the Crisis Pregnancy Agency and those reviewing the report, with an insight into how abortion patterns may vary across countries and how they have changed over time. Data for women from Ireland are based on those whotravelled to UK abortion clinics and supplied Irish addresses. The analyses in this report are based on data notifications held by the Department of Health in the UK

Theorising homophobic hate crime in Northern Ireland

Homophobic violence in Northern Ireland is an area which has come underthe spotlight in the wake of the ongoing, successful, peace process. Tosome degree the peace process itself has been accused of facilitating andoverlooking homophobic violence. This paper invokes a culturally relativeperspective in order to assess whether there are different dynamics whichay be impacting on the effectiveness of challenges and responses toomophobiamh and violence in Northern Ireland

Spatially resolved monthly riverine fluxes of oxidised nitrogen (nitrate and nitrite) to the European shelf seas, 1960-2005

This report documents the methodology developed for statistically modelling the spatial and temporal patterns of oxidised nitrogen (nitrate plus nitrite) riverine fluxes into the coastal waters of northwestern Europe, over the period 1960-2005. The purpose of the study was to provide boundary data for a modelling study of new primary production in European waters. For the UK and Ireland, monthly freshwater discharges to a set of grid cells around the coastline were modelled from rainfall data and calibrated from detailed analyses performed for a subset of years with contrasting climatology. The mean and long-term trends in nitrate and nitrite content of the river discharges were modelled from Harmonised Monitoring Scheme data and flux estimates for each of the years of contrasting climateology. The product of the discharge rate and nitrogen content provided estimates of the monthly flux to each grid cell. Scandinavian inputs of nitrate and nitrite to the North Sea, Skagerrak and Kattegat were assembled from a composite of statistically modelled freshwater discharge, and recent estimates of nitrogen flux from national monitoring agencies. Fluxes of nitrate and nitrite from the rivers flowing into the North Sea from Germany, Netherlands and Belgium during 1960-2005 were assembled from previous analyses by researchers at the University of Hamburg. Nitrate and nitrite fluxes from French rivers flowing into the English Channel, in particular the Seine, were indirectly derived by correlation with the River Scheldt, calibrated from published estimates of annual fluxes. The results show the total oxidised nitrogen input to European shelf seas increasing from approximately 0.6Mt pa. in the 1960's to 1.2Mt pa. in the mid-1980's. Recent estimates of the annual flux since 2000 have been approximately 1.1Mt pa. Around 60-70% of the total annual flux to the northwest European shelf enters via the North Sea. Winter input rates are approximately twice those in the summer in all areas except the Skagerrak/Kattegat

Reducing Reoffending: Review of Selected Countries: Final Review for Audit Scotland

The report reviews reoffending patterns in Scotland, England and Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Norway and New Zealand to establish relevant conditions for different rates of reoffending. A significant part of the report, however, is given over to a critical examination of the concept of 'reoffending' itself which is more a measure of criminal justice agency behaviour than individual behaviour. The report concludes with some suggestions for moving beyond such thin, technocratic understanding of reoffending and rehabilitation. This work was commissioned by and submitted to Audit Scotland