Safe Therapeutic Economic Pharmaceutical Selection (STEPS): development, introduction and use in Northern Ireland

A number of medicine selection methods have been used worldwide for formulary purposes. In Northern Ireland, integrated medicines management is being developed, and related projects have been carried out. This paper deals with the description of the STEPS (Safe Therapeutic Economic Pharmaceutical Selection) programme. The paper outlines the development of STEPS and its application as an element of a cost-effective medicines-management process in Northern Ireland.

‘Towards a Green New Deal on the Island of Ireland: from economic crisis to a new political economy of sustainability’

This article begins from the assumption (which may seem controversial to many) that anyone who thinks that our current economic crisis is a temporary blip until ‘normal service’ (i.e. a return to ‘business as usual’) is resumed, profoundly misunderstands the severity and significance of what’s happening to the global economy and its impacts on the future prosperity of the island of Ireland. The economic recession represents nothing short of a re-structuring of the global economy and the creation of a new dispensation between governments, markets and citizens. The full implications of the re-regulation of the market, with the state bailing out and part nationalising the financial sector in both jurisdictions on the island (as in other parts of the world) have yet to be seen, but what we are witnessing is the emergence of a new economic model. Those who think we can, or even ought to, return to the pre-2008 economic model, are gravely mistaken. The current economic downturn marks the end of the ‘neo-liberal’ model and the beginnings of the transition (an inevitable transition, this article will argue) towards a new low carbon, renewable, green and sustainable economy and society.

Individual employment rights and the renewal of economic citizenship: lessons from the Rights Commissioners in Ireland

Using a large-scale data set, this article considers the role and growing importance of the Rights Commissioners in Ireland. The Rights Commissioners’ service, which has no parallel in any other anglophone industrial relations system, provides an informal and accessible method for the resolution of disputes and the vindication of employment rights. In recent years, the number of cases handled by the Rights Commissioners has grown hugely. A close examination of the cases handled by the service suggests that the Rights Commissioners allow vulnerable workers to pursue cases of alleged breaches of employment rights. The service is seen as holding lessons for other economies in terms of developing a model of economic citizenship that has as a dimension the enforcement of employment rights.