In 1997 the Irish Government adopted the National Anti-Poverty Strategy (NAPS), a global target for the reduction of poverty which illuminates a range of issues relating to official poverty targets. The Irish target is framed in terms of a relative poverty measure incorporating both relative...

In this paper we examine the consequences for social mobility patterns of the unprecedented period of economic growth experienced in Ireland over the 1990s and the implications of developments for current theories of social fluidity. Contrary to suggestions that the ?Celtic Tiger? experience has...

Rates of smoking have decreased dramatically in most Northern European countries over the last fifty years or so, but this decline has not been uniform across the population and there have actually been increases in smoking among lower income and social class groups. Although smoking...

Research has shown that older individuals are far more likely to avail of health care and there is concern in a number of countries that the trend toward population ageing may mean that health care expenditures increase to unsustainable levels. However, there is a growing body of evidence that...