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Message from the Director

Frances Ruane, Director, ESRI

Welcome to the ESRI website. As an independent research institute founded in 1960, the Institute’s mission is to produce research that contributes to understanding economic and social change in the new international context and that informs public policymaking and civil society in Ireland.

Our current research strategy covers the period 2008-2013. It was reviewed in 2010 to ensure that the Institute is best placed to contribute research that is relevant to policy in Ireland. The review was informed by the recent international peer review of the Institute’s research. It also took account of the developing strategic alliance with Trinity College Dublin in the social sciences. The changes made are reflected in the restructuring of the Research Programme Areas and the development of individual research programmes.

Events in 2011 included an open seminar on Casemix Applications for Healthcare Payment Systems, hosted by the ESRI as part of the Winter School on Patient Classification Systems International (PCSI); a Growing Up in Ireland Data Workshop on 18 February; a conference on Financial Exclusion and Over-indebtedness: Challenges and Policy Responses on 8 March; a conference on analysing pension policy on 26 May; an environmental economics seminar on 30 May; a Joint ESRI/RIA public lecture on Business Innovation and Universities: International Approaches to Technology Transfer on 20 Septamber; a seminar on Promoting Social Inclusion for People with Disabilities: National and European Perspectives on 21 September; the annual ESRI/FFS pre-budget Conference on 13 October; a Conference on Economic Renewal: Increasing Ireland’s Productivity and Growth on 9 November; a Growing Up in Ireland Annual Research Conference on 1 December; the EMN Ireland Research Conference Documenting Irregular Migration on 8 December and the Conference on Economic Renewal: Public Services - the second in the special series of half-day conferences on economic renewal, on 14 December.

In addition a number of ESRI Research and Policy Seminars were held, including a lunchtime research seminar on Mission Driven R&D and Climate Change Innovation: Lessons from US Experience with Information Technology on 21 September. View all previous events.

View all forthcoming events.

Current ESRI Research

ESRI research seeks to inform our understanding of key issues facing Irish society. At present there is a strong focus on research relevant to economic recovery. The ESRI is currently engaged in a Renewal Project which explores a range of policy issues which are to the fore in the recession. Twelve studies are being undertaken, each analysing evidence-based approaches to major policy challenges facing Ireland, as we seek to emerge from the economic crisis.

Our research informs the preparation of short-term forecasts for the economy as published in the Quarterly Economic Commentary. In the tradition of the last fifty years, the ESRI continues to undertake and publish research on the macroeconomic behaviour of the Irish economy, including the most recent research paper on Irish Government Debt and Implied Debt Dynamics: 2011-2015 published 6 September 2011, and Recovery Scenarios for Ireland: An Update published in July 2010. In the context of a synchronized global recovery, the turn-around for Ireland will depend crucially on Ireland's regaining competitiveness, flexibility in Irish labour markets supported by active labour market policies, credible fiscal policies and Ireland's relationship with its main trading partners through the International Transmission of Business Cycles.

Recent ESRI labour market research has included a study of the changing workplace, undertaken for the National Centre for Partnership and Performance and a study of the National Employment Action Plan. Researchers working on energy and the environment have recently prepared new forecasts linked to the latest update of macroeconomic forecasts. A Review of Irish Energy Policy was published in April. The Institute’s tax-benefit (SWITCH) model continues to be used widely to analyse the distribution effects of different fiscal proposals. Training on the use of this model has also been provided to staff members in the Departments of Finance and Social Protection, to assist them in exploring distributional issues associated with tax and welfare changes. Current research in the area of social inclusion examines the extent of progress in the reduction of poverty during the latter years of the boom.

The ESRI has an active programme in health which covers both population health and health services research.

Research on education is providing evidence to increase the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of different elements of government spending on education at both second and third levels. Projects currently being undertaken include a study on pupils with special educational needs in mainstream schools. Recent publications include two new studies of senior cycle education in Ireland which document the experiences of students as they move through the second-level system. The books highlight many new findings relating to senior cycle education.

Work in now underway on the second wave of the Growing up in Ireland survey. The Anonymised Microdata File (AMF) from the first Wave is now available from the Irish Social Science Data Archive (ISSDA). The third Growing Up in Ireland Research Conference was held in Dublin on 1 December. Ms Frances Fitzgerald T.D., Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, launched some key findings from the recently completed 3-year cohort as well as some of the first longitudinal findings from the study.

The Institute's research bulletin series provides short summaries of work published by ESRI staff and overviews of thematic areas covered by ESRI programmes of research. Topics covered in the most recent bulletins include selling state assets, parenting, the Euro and exports, and tax rates.

In this period of great economic and fiscal challenges, the need for the ESRI’s research has never been greater. In focusing on policy-relevant research issues, the ESRI is continuing a tradition that now stretches back over 50 years. I am confident that the research activities of our research teams will continue to inform public and policy debates on how we may return to a path of sustained economic recovery and social progress.