Kieran Walsh is Senior Research Fellow at Project Lifecourse and Deputy Director of the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, National University of Ireland Galway.Gemma M. Carney is a lecturer in social policy and ageing at the School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work, Queen’s University Belfast. Áine Ní Léime is a Marie Curie Fellow, and Research Fellow at Project Lifecourse and the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, National University of Ireland Galway.

"With impeccable timing, Walsh, Carney and Ni Leime capture the intersections of population ageing and global economic recessions, using Ireland as the exemplar of the impact of austerity on older people." Norah Keating, Director, The Global Social Initiative on Ageing, International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics "By illuminating individual, regional and societal disparities,this book helps readers rethink the consequences of altered political economies and practices, such as recession, on aging and generations." W. Andrew Achenbaum, University of Houston, USA

• Foreword ~ Alan Walker;Introduction: social policy and ageing through austerity ~ Kieran Walsh, Gemma M. Carney and Áine Ní Léime;Contextualising ageing in Ireland ~ Sheelah Connolly;Citizenship in an age of austerity: towards a constructive politics of ageing ~ Gemma M. Carney;Active ageing: social participation and volunteering in later life ~ Áine Ní Léime and Sheelah Connolly;Pension provision, gender, ageing and work in Ireland ~ Áine Ní Léime, Nata Duvvury and Aoife CallanInterrogating the ‘age-friendly community’ in austerity: myths, realities and the influence of place context ~ Kieran Walsh;Reframing policy for dementia in Ireland ~ Eamon O’Shea, Suzanne Cahill and Maria Pierce;Between inclusion and exclusion in later life ~ Thomas Scharf and Kieran Walsh;Conclusion: beyond austerity: critical issues for future policy ~ Gemma M. Carney, Kieran Walsh and Áine Ní Léime;Afterword: Austerity policies and new forms of solidarity ~ Chris Phillipson.