increased by 220 percent. Private rents also grew and waiting lists for social housing lengthened. At the same time, new house building increased rapidly to one of the highest rates in the European Union. This development transformed city centres and suburbs, and also provincial towns and the countryside, which saw unprecedented construction of holiday homes and estates for commuters working in urban areas. This book, the first comprehensive review of housing in Ireland for many years, introduces, in an accessible manner, the key housing developments since the foundation of the State and also reports on the findings of the latest research on the transformation of the sector in the past decade. The issues examined here include: -the impact of the house price boom on wealth and affordability -the urban renewal schemes and private rented housing -the management of social housing -the accommodation of Travellers and homeless people -rural housing policy and politics During the past decade, Irelands economic growth has attracted international attention. This book analyses the consequences of that growth on housing and serves as a primer to other countries on the complexities of delivering sustainable housing solutions in the face of economic success. As such, this book will be of interest to students, practitioners and policy-makers involved in thehousing field worldwide and to anyone who wishes to learn more about the causes and effects of Irelands recent housing boom.  (less)

those researching women and politics in Ireland—both North and South—into a single, comprehensive and accessible textbook on the topic. Contributors are drawn from both academic and activist arenas to bring a multi-disciplinary approach to the subject.IContesting Politics/Ibegins by presenting current theoretical issues that inform much research on the topic. Contributions by historians locate the participation of women in aspects of Irish political life since the end of the nineteenth century, emphasizing the issues of suffragism and nationalism. The book then examines the central issues of women and the political parties and representation, the relationship between the women’s movement and community-based women’s groups in Ireland, and women’s participation in public bodies and the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition; it then moves to policy matters such as women and economic development and the evolution of “state feminism.” A comparative North/South data section looks at the impact of the “gender gap” on specific policy issues. Also examined is the impact of the European Union on women.Throughout, the book emphasizes analytical approaches to explaining the relationship between women and political activity in Ireland. In positing “politics” as a broadly defined activity that stretches well beyond the formal institutions of the political system, and in taking an all-Ireland approach, editors Yvonne Galligan, Eilís Ward, and Rick Wilford bring new depth and texture to the topic. While the main analytical tools used are drawn from the discipline of political science, the text will be invaluable in @[ÿ (õÂ?ÿ¾Û€  (less)

half of the twentieth century, focus on a wide range of different themes. Considerations of the decline of Redmondite nationalism, the role of Unionism in the Free State, Party structures and organisation, the development of different forms of identity, the nature of economics and the place of the newly independent Ireland within the British Empire are all included. All chapters are either the result of new archival research or else offer a sustained historiographical critique of current thinking.  (less)

University College Cork.BRDr. Brian Fitzgerald is a Statutory Lecturer in Business Information Systems, University College Cork. He was awarded the PhD by the University of London and has published papers on systems development methodologies in a number of international academic journals, including IEEE Software, Information & Management, Journal of Information Technology, and The Information Systems Journal, and has presented systems development research at over 20 international conferences/PPBPUNDERSTANDING OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT/PPJoseph Feller & Brian Fitzgerald/PP/B/P/BPThis book is not the last word; last words are about dead things, and/PPOpen Source development is quite lustily alive. But it is an important/PPstep along the way, answering some questions and raising others that/PPwill continue to be live and fruitful research topics./PPWelcome to the conversation...B/PIPFrom the foreword by Eric S. Raymond/PP /P/B/IPPropelled by headline products such as Linux and Apache, the development and manufacture of Open Source Software (OSS) has become a multi-billion dollar industry in recent years. Unsurprisingly, much has been written about this phenomenon, but the central issues involved are too often obscured by myth, misunderstanding, and partisan opinion. InIUnderstanding Open Source Software Development/I, Joseph Feller and Brian Fitzgerald have assembled the first complete and objective synthesis of the available literature, offering a unique one-stop reference for developers, researchers, managers and anyone else needing to grasp the key issues about OSS./PPThe book addresses the fundamental questions of what, why, @fffffgÿ¾Û€  (less)

energy challenges facing Ireland and suggests solutions, focusing on moving ahead with market reform and increasing the energy efficiency of the Irish economy. Establishing the “All-Island” electricity market will be of critical importance. Sharper focus on energy efficiency in all sectors of the economy, but in particular in transport and buildings, must be a priority. Finally, to achieve its ambitious goals for renewables in energy supply, Ireland will have to provide ample resources for research and development, to allow technologies such as ocean power to move from the laboratory to the market.  (less)

the main churches, and also the relationships between these churches and the two states in Ireland. It also looks at the development of inter-church relations and ecumenism, and offers a new perspective on North-South relations and the causes of religious division. Based on highly original and very comprehensive research, the book offers fascinating insights into the recent past of these key Irish institutions./DIV/DIVDIVDIVList of figures and tables * Acknowledgements * Terminology and abbreviations  * Introduction * ‘Hands across the Border must be the unfailing principle of our common Church life’: The Church of Ireland and the border * ‘The indivisible island’: The Catholic Church and the border * ‘A confident minority’: The Church of Ireland and the Irish state * Standing with the people: The Catholic Church and the Northern Ireland state * ‘That they may be one’: Inter-church relations and religious borders in Ireland * Conclusion * Appendices * Bibliography * IndexU/UBR           /DIV/DIVDIVDIVList of figures and tables * Acknowledgements * Terminology and abbreviations  * Introduction * ‘Hands across the Border must be the unfailing principle of our common Church life’: The Church of Ireland and the border * ‘The indivisible island’: The Catholic Church and the border * ‘A confident minority’: The Church of Ireland and the Irish state * Standing with the people: The Catholic Church and the Northern Ireland state * ‘That they may be one’: Inter-church relations and religious borders in Ireland * Conclusion * Appendices * Bibliography * Index/DI@ZÔzáG®ÿ¾Û€  (less)

higher education system in the top ranks of OECD member countries in terms of both quality and levels of participation? How can it create a world class research, development and innovation capacity?. High levels of investment are needed for a major expansion of postgraduate studies and capacity for research, development and innovation. Mechanisms should be established to achieve the right balance between different components of the tertiary education system, which includes universities, institutes of technology and colleges that provide post-secondary level instruction. Further, there is a need to meet the demands of specialisation, competition and complementarities within the system. This report addresses the full range of higher education issues and offers recommendations for action within the framework of the governments ambitions for the sector. The examiners propose a new National Council for Tertiary Education and recommend significant modernisation and adaptation in the governance and management practices of tertiary education institutions. Finally, the examiners conclude that the governments ambitions for the higher education sector -- especially its role in sustaining a highly innovative economy for Ireland -- will require considerable further investment, and they suggest policy approaches to developing these additional sources of funding.  (less)

regular series of monitoring reports, written by teams of experts in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. As a volume of record this book is an essential up-to-date text for courses in constitutional law or the UK political system.The book is written by the leading experts in the field, but in a highly accessible and readable style. It contains a mine of information not published elsewhere, with all the relevant facts and figures. And it brings out the dynamics of devolution: -- the asymmetry and instability of the devolution 'settlement'-- the tensions which have emerged in Wales and Northern Ireland-- the growing demand at Westminster for 'English votes on English laws'-- the new machinery created by Whitehall to manage devolution from the centre-- changes in public attitudes and national identity.The chapters cover Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the English regions, intergovernmental relations, Westminster, public attitudes to devolution and the London assembly. This is a unique contemporary record describing all the main developments during the first year of devolution, and the stresses and the strains which are starting to emerge.  (less)

Conference on Mathematical Physics, comprises 8 review and 44 research articles on the most significant topics in mathematical and theoretical physics such as astrophysics and cosmology, conformal field theory, high energy physics, general relativity and plasma physics. The review articles are comprehensive and self-contained and report on the most important developments in the corresponding subjects. Each review article provides a complete list of references, which is especially useful for graduate students who are just starting their research activities; even ambitious undergraduates in physics can use these review papers as useful background material to go further into the subject and explore the research literature. They are contributed by prominent senior scientists: M Moniez (Laboratoire de l'Accelerateur Lineare, France) and V Sahni (Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), India) in Astrophysics and Cosmology, W Nahm (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS), Ireland) in Conformal Field Theory, J Lukierski (University of Wroclaw, Poland) in Mathematical Physics, Riazuddin and Fayyazuddin (Quaid-i-Azam University, Pakistan) in High Energy Physics, N Dadhich (Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), India) and A Qadir (National University of Science and Technology, Pakistan) in General Relativity, and N Tsintsadze (Tbilisi State University, Georgia) in Plasma Physics.  (less)

human activity rather than natural processes. At about the same time in other parts of Europe, shell middens were also being discovered and written about - a process which continued throughout Europe as time went on. Until recently, European Atlantic shell middens attracted only sporadic interest from archaeologists and scientists. However, there has been a notable resurgence in the excavations of shell middens over the last few decades which has been accompanied by the development of a range of new scientific methods applicable to shells and other midden components. There now exists a sizeable amount of information on shell middens, their variability and insights that they have revealed through scientific investigation. A workshop was organised in September 2005 in the Department of Archaeology, University of York, which brought together colleagues working on shell middens along the Atlantic faade of Europe. The aims were to discuss the current work that was being carried out in each country, to consider the use of coastal resources through prehistory and to present new scientific techniques which were being developed. This volume presents the papers from that conference, and is organised geographically, starting with Scandinavia, moving down to Britain, Ireland and France and then to Iberia. For each of these areas there are some papers which provide reviews of the overall state of shell midden research of coastal archaeology. There arealso some case studies which provide more in-depth information on sites which are less well known.  (less)

Specific case studies are accompanied by more general syntheses of castles and castle-building across broad geographical regions, including Germany, Switzerland, Norman England, the Netherlands, Finland, Bohemia, Andalusia, the Rhineland, and Ireland. Case studies include the castle of Coudenburg in Brussels, the castle of Rosstal, Hen Domen in Wales, Schlossberg at Graz, Newark in Nottinghamshire and the Viking Grevlunda Motte in Scania, and others. Papers also examine economic activity surrounding castles and typical religious structures. Two tributes to Arnold Taylor begins the volume. Papers in French, English, or German; all have abstracts in these three languages.  (less)