Contemp Irish Welfare State

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This module provides an introduction to the main areas of contemporary Irish social policy. This includes the 'four pillars' of the system (social protection; health; education; and housing) but also an overview of key aspects of social work as they relate to social policy. The module presents an overview of current policy in each of the areas and students are required to think analytically about each of the key policies, assessing their performance relative to particular goals. Students are introduced to key data sources (mainly on-line) to enable you to draw on readily available sources of information to update your knowledge and assessment of various social policy schemes and programmes.