Factors influencing the downstream transport of sediment in the Lough Feeagh catchment, Burrishoole, Co. Mayo, Ireland

Research laboratories in the Burrishoole catchment have been the focus of salmonid research since 1955. One aspect of the research has been to monitor the number of salmon and sea trout migrating to sea as smolts and returning to the catchment as adults. In the early 1990s it became clear that the smolt output from the catchment had declined over the previous two decades. At about the same time the presence of fine particles of peat silt in the hatchery became increasingly apparent and led to a higher incidence of mortality of young fry. These observations and management difficulties led to a study of silt transport in the surface waters of the catchment, which is described in this article. The authors describe geology, soils, climate and hydrology of Burrishoole before examining the sediment deposition in Lough Feeagh

DID IRELAND BECOME MORE UNEQUAL DURING THE BOOM? ESRI Research Bulletin 2009/2/4

The Irish economy almost doubled in size between 1990 and 2000 in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), leading to a rapid convergence of GDP per capita with the EU average, and dramatic growth in employment and incomes. Economists writing about the impact of technology on the labour market in recent years have tended to emphasise the idea that as an economy grows, technology is biased in favour of skilled workers and against unskilled workers (This is termed skill-biased technical change, SBTC.) A large body of evidence documents a striking correlation between the adoption of computer-based technologies and the increased use of university-educated labour. The idea of SBTC has primarily been used to explain rising wage inequality in, for example, the UK and the US. Has rapid growth in Ireland led to a similar rise in wage inequality, favouring higher educated workers – and if not, what factors have tended to offset the influence of skill-biased technological change? These issues have been investigated by Seamus McGuinness, Frances McGinnity and Philip O’Connell in a recent paper.† They draw on data from the Living in Ireland Survey for 1994, 1997 and 2001 to examine the consequences of the boom for wage dispersion and returns to education in Ireland

Changing Returns to Education During a Boom? The Case of Ireland. ESRI WP227. February 2008

Ireland’s “Celtic Tiger” years saw GDP per capita rise from 60% of the EU average to 120% of the average over the course of the 1990s, with a growth in employment of about 40% over the period 1994-2001. What were the consequences of the boom for returns to education and wage inequality? This paper uses data from the Living in Ireland Survey for 1994, 1997 and 2001 to examine wage inequality, the returns to education and the relative demand for labour for men and women

Discrimination in the Labour Market: Nationality, Ethnicity and the Recession. ESRI Research Bulletin 2015/2/2

A growing body of research shows that immigrants suffer multiple disadvantages in the Irish labour market, with lower employment, higher unemployment and lower wages than Irish nationals. But what effect did Ireland’s economic crisis have on discrimination? We investigated whether non-Irish nationals were more likely to report experience of discrimination in the labour market after the crisis hit

MONITORING REPORT ON INTEGRATION 2018. ESRI Report, November 2018

Given that a significant proportion of the population living in Ireland is of non-Irish origin, how are non-Irish nationals integrating into Irish society? How do they compare to the Irish population in terms of employment rates, educational qualifications, income and poverty rates, health outcomes, housing and participation in Irish political life? This Integration Monitor is the sixth of a series of reports which consider outcomes in a wide range of life domains, including employment, education, social inclusion and active citizenship. It is based on indicators proposed at the European Ministerial Conference on Integration held in Zaragoza in 2010. These indicators are comparable across European Union (EU) Member States, based on existing data and focused on outcomes. It should be noted that some differences between Irish and non-Irish may be a result of differences in age, gender, duration in Ireland, educational background and work experience. Accounting for these differences using statistical modelling is beyond the scope of this report, but readers are alerted to relevant differences. This Monitor’s special topic is: ‘Muslims in Ireland’, based primarily on data from the 2016 Irish Census

Modelling soil erosion and transport in the Burrishoole catchment, Newport, Co. Mayo, Ireland

The Burrishoole catchment is situated in County Mayo, on the northwest coast of the Republic of Ireland. Much of the catchment is covered by blanket peat that, in many areas, has become heavily eroded in recent years. This is thought to be due, primarily, to the adverse effects of forestry and agricultural activities in the area. Such activities include ploughing, drainage, the planting and harvesting of trees, and sheep farming, all of which are potentially damaging to such a sensitive landscape if not managed carefully. This article examines the sediment yield and hydrology of the Burrishoole catchment. Flow and sediment concentrations were measured at 8-hourly intervals from 5 February 2001 to 8 November 2001 with an automatic sampler and separate flow gauge, and hourly averages were recorded between 4 July 2002 and 6 September 2002 using an automatic river monitoring system [ARMS]. The authors describe the GIS-based model of soil erosion and transport that was applied to the Burrishoole catchment during this study. The results of these analyses were compared, in a qualitative manner, with the aerial photography available for the Burrishoole catchment to see whether areas that were predicted to contribute large proportions of eroded material to the drainage network corresponded with areas where peat erosion could be identified through photo-interpretation

The Impact of Flexible Working Arrangements on Work-Life Conflict and Work Pressure in Ireland. ESRI WP189. April 2007

Recent rapid economic growth in Ireland has been accompanied by a strong surge in the number of women in employment, and this has led to a significant increase in the proportion of dual-earner families. These changes have brought the issue of reconciliation between work and care commitments to the fore. Flexible working arrangements in firms have been identified as one important means of balancing work and other commitments (Evans 2001). In this paper we investigate the relationship between four flexible working arrangements – flexi-time, part-time hours, working from home and job-share – and two key employee outcomes – work pressure and work-life conflict, using data from the first national survey of employees in Ireland in 2003. Our results show that while part-time work and flexi-time tend to reduce work pressure and work-life conflict, working from home is associated with greater levels of both work pressure and work-life conflict. We conclude that it is important to distinguish between flexible working arrangements to discover their potential for reducing work pressure and work-life conflict

Annual Monitoring Report on Integration 2011

This is the second in a series of Annual Integration Monitors which seek to measure migrant integration in four life domains – employment, education, social inclusion and active citizenship. The core indicators closely follow those proposed in the Zaragoza Declaration. The aim is to have indicators that are comparable across EU Member States, based on existing data and focused on outcomes. The indicators are derived from the latest available large-scale survey data in Ireland that allow us to compare outcomes for Irish and migrant populations in each domain. This report also contains a special theme: immigrant children in Irish schools, which is based on original analysis of data from the Growing Up in Ireland study

Annual Monitoring Report on Integration 2010

Welcome to the first Annual Monitoring Report on Integration which aims to provide a comprehensive and concise picture of the state of Integration in Ireland and to identify where in employment, education, social inclusion and active citizenship Ireland can increase the potential for integration

RECONCILING WORK AND FAMILY LIFE: WORKPLACES, OCCUPATION AND THE EXPERIENCE OF WORK-LIFE CONFLICT. ESRI Research Bulletin 2009/3/4

Concerns about the appropriate balance between work and family life have intensified as growth in female labour market participation has been accompanied by falling fertility and the prospect of an ageing population. The importance of this area for policy has led to a growing body of research, to which ESRI researchers have recently contributed.† One of the papers specifically explores the various types of flexible working mechanisms and the relationship with work-life conflict, using data from the 2003 Changing Workplaces Survey,1 a nationally representative survey of employees in Ireland, which provides a unique and comprehensive picture of contemporary Irish workplaces. The other papers focus on Ireland’s situation in an international comparative context, drawing on the 2004 European Social Survey