Northern Ireland PSE Papers

Papers

  • Community engagement in challenging times

    As part of our commitment to public engagement, the PSE has sought to create a model or process to connect low income communities with PSE research, to amplify their voices by linking their local experiences to a national research project and to share their findings via digital media tools, such as the PSE website.

    This working paper describes an experimental collaboration between members of the Poverty and Social Exclusion project (PSE), the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland and communities from some of the most deprived wards in Northern Ireland during a period of unprecedented social welfare changes. This pilot engagement process devised and tested in collaboration with these communities, presents one model for building partnerships between national research projects and local low-income and hard to reach individuals, communities and their advocates, as part of a mutually beneficial process. Visit the Communities in Action section for more information on this unique collaboration.
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    PDF icon WP Methods No.25 -Community__ Engagement for Challenging Times (Kent Nov13).pdf459.92 KB
    Tags: Low-income households, Methods development, Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland paper, Social exclusion, Working papers

  • Legacies of conflict: evidence from the 2012 PSE survey

    The Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey 2012 included questions, first asked in 2002/3, designed to capture the impact of the ‘Troubles’ on people’s lives. In this paper for the Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series, Mike Tomlinson presents the initial analysis of these findings. The 2012 results survey found that just under a half of all adults (45%) experienced either the death or injury of someone they knew personally. For more than a third of adults (35%), someone they knew was killed.  With the exception of imprisonment, all of the conflict experiences are associated with a higher risk of poor physical and mental health and most were associated with lower life satisfaction.
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    PDF icon Legacies of conflict_KESS_Tomlinson_2013.pdf1.55 MB
    Tags: Health, Mental health, Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland paper, Paper, Religion, The troubles

  • Response to Northern Ireland's Draft Budget

    This paper is concerned with the likely impact of the Spending Review on living standards in Northern Ireland and especially the living standards of those with the lowest incomes. The cuts in Treasury funding for Northern Ireland are greater than many assume. By 2014-15 all Departments will have substantially lower current budgets in real terms than in 2010-11. The cuts in public spending are occurring in a context of a stagnant employment rate, rising unemployment and restricted opportunities for younger people.
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    PDF icon WP Policy repsonse No 6 DraftBudgetResponsePSE.pdf324.89 KB
    Tags: Government cuts, Government policy, Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland paper, Policy response, Public services, Working papers

  • Defining the Breadline: Is there a Northern Ireland Consensus? by Mike Tomlinson and Grace Kelly

    The paper and presentation, presented to the Northern Ireland Assembly on 26 April 2012, report the findings of the Necessities of Life survey 2011 in Northern Ireland. The survey found a remarkable degree of consensus in respondents’ attitudes to necessities, between social groups and categories across income, occupation, community background and gender; though there are some significant differences, especially between young and old.

    The results show that what most people think are necessities leads to a different set of indicators than those built into current deprivation rates (such as the EU measure). Mike Tomlinson’s contribution can be seen on the Northern Ireland Assembly website.
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    PDF icon Defining the breadline in NI- Stormont presentation.pdf448.28 KB
    PDF icon Defining the breadline in NI-Tomlison&Kelly.pdf287.94 KB
    Tags: Deprivation, Living standards, Necessities, Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland paper, Poverty measurement, Presentation

  • The Necessities of Life in Northern Ireland

    This working paper presents the opinions of the general public as to which items and activities are believed necessary in Northern Ireland today to enjoy a decent standard of living. It is based on an analysis of responses to a module in the Omnibus survey conducted in Northern Ireland in 2011. The responses are explored by key socio-demographic and economic variables to ascertain the extent of agreement among the general public as to their importance. While there are some differences of opinion between different groups in society, in general a very high degree of consensus on the necessities is evident. The survey findings confirm that the items and activities that are essential to achieve an acceptable standard of living in our society today and which all adults should be able to afford and not have to do without are both material and social in nature.
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    PDF icon WP Analysis No.1 - Kelly et al May2012.pdf745.4 KB
    Tags: Necessities, Northern Ireland paper, Poverty forecast, Poverty measurement, Result analysis, Social exclusion, Working papers