Ireland Under Austerity

Colin Coulter is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Maynooth UniversityAngela Nagle received her PhD from Dublin City University, and is a contributor to the Dublin Review of Books, the Atlantic and the Irish Times

Once held up as a 'poster child' for the benefits of untrammeled capitalist globalisation, the Irish Republic has more recently come to represent a cautionary tale for those tempted to tread the same neoliberal path. The crash in the world economy had especially grave repercussions for Ireland, as it only narrowly escaped bankruptcy by negotiating emergency loans at punitive rates from the IMF, EU and ECB. A series of austerity measures introduced by successive Irish governments and overseen by the institutions of global finance has seen the country endure what some consider the most substantial 'adjustment' ever experienced in a developed society during peacetime.In this collection of essays, a range of academics, activists and political commentators delineate the reactionary course that Ireland has followed since the ignominious demise of the Celtic Tiger. A central thread that runs through the book is that the forces of neoliberalism have employed the economic crisis they caused to advance policies that are in their own very narrow interests. The host of regressive measures imposed since the onset of global recession has fundamentally restructured Irish society and will continue to do so long after public anger recedes and the national humiliation of the 'bailout' fades from memory. Ireland Under Austerity provides a critical and engaging account of what has happened to a society that in recent years has, more than most, mapped out the pernicious cycle of boom and bust that remains an essential hallmark of contemporary capitalism.

1. Introduction - Colin CoulterSection A: The political economy of crisis in Ireland2. False economy: the financialisation of Ireland and the roots of austerity - Conor McCabe3. Interpretations of the Irish economic crash - Kieran Allen4. The perfect storm: crisis, capitalism and democracy - Sinead Kennedy5. Ireland and the new economy - Angela NagleSection B: Casualties of the crisis in Ireland6. Ireland's disappeared: suicide, violence and austerity - Michael Cronin7. The impact of the crisis on Irish women - Alison Spillane8. Defiance and hope: austerity and the community sector in the Republic of Ireland - John Bissett9. All aboard the Migration Nation - Gavan TitleySection C: Lessons from the crisis for the Irish Left10. Lessons from the era of social partnership for the Irish labour movement - Francisco Arqueros11. Ireland, the Left and the European Union - Daniel Finn12. Business is too important to be left to Irish business - Michael TaftIndex