This first chapter sets the scene with a brief historical introduction. It looks at the East End’s immigrant history, at the Bengalis’ Sylheti background, at the first links through lascars in British merchant ships, at the role of Bengali professionals and students, at the enlargement of the community with the arrival of families and through natural growth, at the impact of immigration legislation, and at the development of Bengali neighbourhoods. It gives an introduction to the growing importance of Islam and to the perennial problems around the shortage of housing and the competition this creates. It gives a broad outline of the types of employment Bengalis have taken up, the problems of racism, and the particular and evolving situations and constraints facing Bengali women and young people. It includes statistics from the 2011 census, and ends with a look at recent changes in the area and the impact of gentrification.

This chapter presents a socioeconomic profile of childhood disability in an Irish context. Using data from the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) survey, it considers a range of dimensions. These include an analysis of the associations between the childhood disability status of a household and a range of socioeconomic indicators relating to labour market outcomes, levels of parental education, social class, income and economic hardship. The chapter compares households with and without a child with a disability on the basis of these socioeconomic measures. The primary carer of a child with a disability is considerably less likely to participate in the labour market and considerably more likely to turn down work opportunities, when compared to a primary carer of a child without a disability. Parents of a child with a disability are less likely to be educated at third level and more likely to be in the lowest social class.

Ireland represents a valuable case-study of disability and the labour market. People with disabilities face many barriers to full participation in the labour market, and as a consequence, their labour force participation rates and employment rates fall far below those for others of working age. The labour market is at the centre of economic research in the disability domain. This chapter describes the extent to which people with disabilities are in paid work in Ireland. The impact of disability on employment, and on earnings for those who are employed, has been widely studied, including a relatively emphasis on dynamic effects making use of longitudinal data that captures the onset of disability. In order to examine the factors affecting labour force participation and the impact of disability, the chapter focuses on econometric analyses of the microdata from large-scale household surveys.

Chapter 2 locates the study of older people’s interest organisations within the sociological, political science and social gerontology literature. The chapter seeks to bridge the divide between these three interrelated yet traditionally distinct disciplines. In doing so it elucidates issues of key salience to the theoretical study of older people interest organisations and discusses the changing meaning of collective identity and identity politics as applied to older people.

Chapter 6 provides a detailed examination of the impact of identity politics. It begins with a critical look at the development of black radical ideas, their dismissal of the ‘white working class’, and their failure to set out how sectorial struggle could lead to working-class unity. It concentrates on the experience of the Bengali Housing Action Group, a squatters’ organisation coordinated by black radical activists from Race Today, and on anti-racist resistance spearheaded by second generation Asian Youth Movements. These campaigns succeeded in securing homes for many families and in generating a sea-change in community consciousness and confidence as Bengalis asserted their right to stay in Britain and be treated decently. However they left a legacy of geographical clustering and of separate community-based organisation that failed to address wider socio-economic inequalities. The chapter compares this identity politics with the 1930s, when the Communist Party used campaigns against racism and for better housing to unite the working class across the racial divide, to undercut support for fascism, and to build support for left ideas. It concludes by looking at how public money has been used to incorporate once-radical organisation into the establishment and institutionalise competition between different community groups.

Higher education has splintered into disciplinary enclaves in which the goal often becomes one of doing research to address disciplinary concerns and little else. On topics such as sustainability, there is an urgent need to become interdisciplinary, engaged and solutions focused. Maine’s Sustainability Centre (SSI) offers an exemplar for addressing complex environmental problems. This chapter presents a model for universities as they address a range of issues that interlink social and environmental concerns.

In the Republic of Ireland, the 'moment' of the 'social problem' labelled 'anti-social behaviour' arrived when Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) were included in the Criminal Justice Act (2006). This chapter addresses four complex and connected questions. First, in relation to the 'policy transfer' dimension, how helpful are the contributions of D. P. Dolowitz, P. Bourdieu and L. Wacqaunt in helping us understand the introduction of ASBOs? Second, what has been the impact of 'made in America' approaches to crime and 'disorder', such as 'zero tolerance policing' (ZTP) and fixing 'broken windows', on Irish and other European approaches? Third, what are the ways by which primary political definers of 'anti-social behaviour', in Ireland, have sought to construct this particular 'social problem'? Finally, what is the link between the Irish interest in combating 'anti-social behaviour' and pervasive transformations in responding to crime and 'disorder' within the European Union?.

This chapter looks at how the bank guarantee epitomises the Irish case of the perverse legacy of the crisis and the contradictory path of neo-liberalism. The factors such as greed, excessive risk-taking and regulatory policy failures played a role in the Irish crisis. The chapter presents these factors both as symptoms of the deeper dynamics of a financialised neo-liberal growth model and as expressions of how neo-liberal practices and discourses have mutated in the crisis by remaining dominant despite their incongruities. The Irish case of debt displacement and repayment belongs to a broader set of responses in which enormous transfers of wealth are occurring under austerity, as state efforts to manage the crisis in market-friendly ways result in 'wealthfare'. Ireland's first encounter with financialisation occurred through the establishment of the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC).

Chapter 1 contextualizes the study of older people’s interest organisations within the evolving politics of old age. It explores the evolving relationship between old age, the welfare state and the economy and the national and international promotion of older people’s interest organisations. It outlines the relationship between age-based social policy and economics, demographic forecasts, transnational organisations, globalisation and ideological debates surrounding the equity of specific age-based benefits.

A broad measure of consensus has emerged in Ireland and internationally on the nature of disability and the principles that should guide disability policy. Disability is seen as a socioeconomic phenomenon, whereby disabled people are prevented from participating fully in social and economic activities due to the presence of various barriers. This chapter presents some key concepts discussed in this book. The book explores a range of issues and debates of relevance to the economics of disability. It examines the associations between disability and a variety of measures of social inclusion. The book examines the association between the childhood disability status of households and a range of socioeconomic outcome measures, including parental labour market outcomes, levels of parental education, social class and economic hardship. It also examines the economics of mental health services and presents a broad overview of key economic issues facing the provision of such services in Ireland.

Also based on a research study involving observation of over 370 LEP cases and detailed interviews with interpreters and legal professionals, chapter 5 describes in detail how interpreting has been incorporated into, become a feature of and impacted on District Court proceedings, and how the characteristics and dynamics of District Court proceedings impact on the interpreted criminal case in unprecedented ways. It also provides a modified description of the generic District Court case described in Chapter 2, detailing how the interpreted case can differ both linguistically and substantively.