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Expert speakers respond to Jim O’Leary’s talk and report: Josephine Feehily, Chairperson, Policing Authority and former Chairman, Revenue Commissioners; Maria Graham, Assistant Secretary, Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government; Eamon Ryan TD, Leader of the Green Party; Don Thornhill, former Secretary General, Department of Education and Science.  

Jim O’Leary discusses the success and failure of two recent Government policies – water charges and the Local Property Tax – as part of a Whitaker Institute conference, entitled ‘How (Not) To Do Public Policy’.  

In the fateful decade since the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the Bank Guarantee of September 2008, much has happened in Ireland – financial crisis, deep recession, bailout by the ‘Troika’, a protracted period of austerity followed by vigorous economic recovery. But what has really changed over the last ten years? What developments in the… | Read on »

Download the full report “How (Not) To Do Public Policy” by Jim O’Leary here.   Why do some public policy measures succeed while others fail? Why, for example, has the Local Property Tax been a policy success, while the attempt to introduce water charges was a policy disaster? What can we learn from successful and… | Read on »

  Fusing cold water surfing, dance & poetry, Easkey Britton explores a synodic month from a female perspective. Taking us on an emotive journey through the places in-between, where instability reigns supreme. Embracing the imperfections as we connect with ourselves and the environment around us. Winner Best Short Film – Shoreshots Surf Film Festival 2018

  The Whitaker Institute will host a conference today on ‘How (Not) To Do Public Policy’, and launches a report of the same name which examines and compares the failure of water charges and the success of the Local Property Tax in Ireland.  The conference will gather senior policymakers, public servants, academics, and other experts to… | Read on »

This research, conducted by economists Tom Gillespie and Stephen Hynes, SEMRU, along with Ronan Lyons (Trinity College Dublin), has analysed over half a million sales and rental property listings placed over the last decade and calculated the extent of the sea-view enjoyed by properties and the average increase in value attributed to this. The paper… | Read on »

Ambidexterity in general refers to the ability to do two things equally well (e.g. use of right and left hands) and organisational ambidexterity refers to the simulaneous ability to exploit existing capabilities and explore new capabilities. This is seen as paving the way for introducing both radical and incremental innovations in the marketplace. For many… | Read on »

Urban areas are already suffering substantial losses in both economic and human terms from climate-related disasters, including flooding. These losses are anticipated to grow substantially in the coming decades, while local planning decisions today will have a large bearing on future costs, for example by locking-in future exposure to flood risk (Kocornik-Mina et al. 2015)…. | Read on »

Research in the field of Oceans and Human Health gets a big boost this week, as the Seas, Oceans and Public Health in Europe project launches its new website. Designed to encourage debate between different sectors, Seas, Oceans and Public Health in Europe (SOPHIE for short) will build a community of researchers and practitioners to… | Read on »