The Role of Self-Help Efforts in the Reintegration of ‘Politically Motivated’ Former Prisoners: Implications from the Northern Irish experience

Self-help (or mutual aid) processes play a substantial role in the reintegration of stigmatized individuals, in particular, a substantial self-help movement has developed around addiction recovery. Prisoners and ex-prisoners have also established self-help groups around the world. This paper focuses in particular on the role of self-help principles and practices among “politically motivated” former prisoners from all sides of the Northern Irish conflict. The concept of self-help and its application to former prisoners are analysed theoretically, then applied to the Northern Irish case study through a series of interviews with ex-prisoners whose incarceration has been related to the conflict in Northern Ireland. We draw on the implications of this case study for wider issues of reintegration for politically motivated and ordinary prisoners.

Experimentalism in the Irish Novel, 1750-1770

While recent studies of the novel have turned their attention to the diverse experimentalism of mid-century fiction, a number of significant Irish novels of the period remain under-represented in such work. William Chaigneau, Thomas Amory, Charles Johnstone and Henry Brooke are discussed as experimental novelists, extending the 'new species of writing' by their incorporation of theology and politics, education and philosophy within a fictional frame.

Cost performance of Irish credit unions

There are 424 credit unions in Ireland with assets under their control of €14.3bn and a membership of 2.5m which equates to about 66% of the economically active population, the highest penetration level of any country. That said, the Irish movement sits at a critical development stage, well behind mature markets such as Canada and the US in terms of product provision, technological sophistication, fragmentation of trade bodies and regulatory environment. This study analyses relative cost efficiency or performance of Irish credit unions using the popular frontier approach which measures an entity’s efficiency relative to a frontier of best practice. Parametric techniques are utilised, with variation in inefficiency being attributed to credit union-specific factors. The stochastic cost frontier parameters and the credit-union specific parameters are simultaneously estimated to produce valid statistical inferences. The study finds that the majority of Irish credit unions are not operating at optimal levels. It further highlights the factors which drive efficiency variation across credit unions and they include technological sophistication, ‘sponsor donated’ resources, interest rate differentials and the levels of bad debt written off

Fecundity of Nephrops norvegicus from the Irish Sea

Potential fecundity, number of oocytes in the mature ovary, and realized fecundity, number of eggs extruded and attached to the pleopods of female Nephrops, caught at the start of the incubation period were estimated for females from the eastern and western Irish Sea grounds. Potential fecundity was found to differ significantly between eastern and western Irish Sea stocks, while realized fecundity did not differ between areas. Inter-year comparison of realized fecundity, and effective fecundity (the number of mature eggs on the pleopods of females at the end of the incubation period) in the western Irish Sea stocks revealed no significant variation over time. Egg loss during the transition from oocytes in the ovary to mature eggs increased with female size, ranging from 40% at 25 mm carapace length (CL) to 65% at 40 mm CL. No relationship was found between egg diameter or volume and female size.