End of the Irish Poor Law?

Donnacha Seán Lucey is a Research Fellow in the School of History and Anthropology at Queen’s University Belfast

‘This work is thoroughly researched, immaculately presented and thoughtfully written and provides an important contribution to the historiography of revolutionary and independent Ireland. Lucey’s ground-level analysis reveals how national policies were interpreted in local contexts, revealing a multitude of social, economic, religious and cultural dynamics that underpinned poor law and welfare reform in Ireland in the early twentieth century.’Stephen Bance, University College Dublin, Irish Economic and Social History 2016, Vol 43 (1)‘By exploring attitudes to, and the administration of, welfare, thisbook, by Donnacha Sean Lucey, illuminates not only social and economicdevelopments but also a central element of local and popular politics, thusoffering new insights into conceptions of citizenship and national identity….Lucey opens a new chapter in Irish welfare history.’‘Lucey’s research is extensive, and his case studies focus on thecounties of Cork and Kerry. There are no other detailed studies of localauthority welfare provision and poor relief in twentieth-century Ireland. Luceyplaces his material within the context of a national framework and also locatesthe Irish experience in the context of British and international developmentsin the period. The book is well written and engaging. It is an important workof Irish social and welfare history and a reminder, in the decade ofcommemorations, that, whatever the Irish revolution means, the outcast, poorand destitute are also part of that history.’Maria Luddy, University of Warwick, English Historical Review 2017, Volume 132 (558)‘In The Endof the Irish Poor Law, Sean Lucey has opened up a significant newfield in welfare history. The book is meticulously researched and fluentlywritten.’‘Lucey's book is much more than another study of a parochial health andwelfare system. The author consciously seeks to place the developments in theFree State in a transnational context that sees the systems emerging after 1918and the ideas underpinning them as part of an international trend or movement.’Barry Doyle, University of Huddersfield, Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, jrx040‘Lucey opens this well researched and written volume by discussingsocial reforms during the years of the Great War and after, as Irelandtransitioned from a colony into an independent nation and Sinn Fein andrepublican sympathizers sought to gain political control both locally andnationally’‘this engaging, informative and recommended read’ Margaret Preston, Augustana University, Social History 2016, Volume 41 (4)

• Introduction1. The poor law and the Irish revolution: the case of the Cork workhouse2. From outdoor relief to home assistance: workhouses to work tests3. Single mothers and institutionalisation4. Child welfare and local authorities: institutions v boarding-out5. The end of the poor law taint?: from workhouses to hospitalsConclusionBibliographyIndex