ESRI April 2024 Newsletter

Message from the Director

Dear Reader,

While we often discuss increasing Ireland’s housing supply, it is vital that housing developments are matched with sufficient healthcare services. This month, my colleagues published a new ‘Housing and Healthcare Planning’ model to quantify the impact of housing developments on local healthcare services. Future outputs using this model will examine a range of other health and social care services.

Also on the housing front, my colleagues found that Ireland has a higher number of people per household than other European countries. This is mainly due to a younger population and a high fertility rate. As the population ages, household size is likely to decline once sufficient, and suitable, housing is available.

We also published a Shared Island report examining gender and labour market inclusion on the island of Ireland. It found that education is crucial for enhancing job prospects and is a key policy lever. Increasing educational attainment and reducing early school leaving is especially important for women in Northern Ireland.

Also on education, our report Embracing Diversity in all its Forms’: The Voluntary Secondary Sector in Irish Education generated a notable amount of interest. It explored topics such as religion in schools, single-sex versus co-educational schools, the Irish language and gender differences in subject choice. I was particularly struck by its finding that there is a growing trend of students missing school post-COVID-19 – posing far-reaching consequences for academic engagement, school completion and future prospects.

In terms of upcoming events, we are hosting the 12th MaREI Climate & Energy Research Seminar on 6 June. It promises to be an informative event covering topics such as carbon budgets, transport and the power system. Lastly, our highly anticipated Budget Perspectives Conference is planned for 13 June. Find details for these events and more below.  

Regards,

Professor Alan Barrett
Director