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"The battle for legal contraception challenged key tenets of Irish identity: Catholicism, large families, traditional gender roles, and sexual puritanism. It is a story of gender, religion, social change, and failing efforts to reaffirm Irish moral exceptionalism"--

The Irish battle for legal contraception was a contest over Irish exceptionalism: the belief that Ireland could resist global trends despite the impact of second-wave feminism, falling fertility, and a growing number of women travelling for abortion. It became so lengthy and so divisive because it challenged key tenets of Irish identity: Catholicism, large families, traditional gender roles, and sexual puritanism. The Catholic Church argued that legalising contraception would destroy this way of life, and many citizens agreed. The Battle to Control Female Fertility in Modern Ireland provides new insights on Irish masculinity and fertility control. It highlights women's activism in both liberal and conservative camps, and the consensus between the Catholic and Protestant churches views on contraception for single people. It also shows how contraception and the Pro-Life Amendment campaign affected policy towards Northern Ireland, and it examines the role of health professionals, showing how hospital governance prevented female sterilisation. It is a story of gender, religion, social change, and failing efforts to reaffirm Irish moral exceptionalism.

Intro -- Contents -- List of Tables -- Acknowledgments -- List of Abbreviations -- 1. The Pathology of Irish Demographic History -- 2. Saving Rural Ireland: 1920-1960 -- 3. Marriages, Births, and Fertility: The Irish Family -- 4. The Irish State and Its Emigrants: 1922-1954 -- 5. The Vanishing Irish: 1954 -1961 -- 6. 1961-1971: "A Worthy Homeland forthe Irish People"? -- 7. "A Ticket to London Is a Ticket to Hell" : Emigrants, Emigrant Welfare, and Images of Ireland -- Statistical Appendix -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.

Intro -- PREFACE -- CONTENTS -- NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS -- LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS -- INTRODUCTION Mary Daly and Guy Standing -- The time squeeze -- The need for voice -- The future of care work -- Structure of the study -- PART I CARE AS DECENT WORK -- 1 CARE WORK: OVERCOMING INSECURITY AND NEGLECT Guy Standing -- Introduction -- Care, identity and citizenship -- Care work: A framework -- Figure 1.1 The social process of care -- Compensation: From gift to market -- Income security: The role of the State -- Conclusion -- 2 CARE POLICIES IN WESTERN EUROPE Mary Daly -- Conceptualizations and definitions of care -- The evolution of care as a concept -- Care as a social policy analysis tool -- Policy parameters of care -- Table 2.1 Universe of provision for care -- Provision for care in European welfare states -- General outline of trends in provision -- Public policies on care in European welfare states -- Models of managing care in European welfare states -- Table 2.2 Clustering of European countries on the basis of their provision for children -- Table 2.3 Clustering of European countries on the basis of their provision for the elderly -- Evaluating alternative ways of compensating for care -- The different features of care as a policy good -- Considering the likely effects of different policy measures -- Table 2.4 How policy provisions rate in relation to different objectives -- Overview -- 3 LEGITIMIZING CARE WORK AND THE ISSUE OF GENDER EQUALITY Jane Lewis -- The crisis in care -- Care and the erosion of the male breadwinner model -- Table 3.1 Labour force participation as a percentage of population from age 15-64 -- Table 3.2 Part-time employment in 13 OECD countries ranked by part-time employment as a proportion of female employment (1979 and 1995, percentages)1.

The roots of many problems facing Ireland's economy today can be traced to the first two decades following its independence. Opening previously unexplored areas of Irish history, this is the first comprehensive study of industrial development and attitudes coward industrialization during a pivotal period, from the founding of the Irish Free State to the Anglo-Irish Trade Treaty

Inserting a border where one did not previously exist transforms the mental and physical map of individuals and communities. Those who live along the Irish Border regard themselves as distinct from the rest of Northern Ireland or Ireland – 'a third country', that is neglected, and distinct from both Belfast and Dublin. This paper explores the neglect and belated 'discovery' of the problems facing border areas: the local impact of partition on population and the economy, the image of the border as a zone of violence and lawlessness, and the importance of the parish and community identities, together with the question of sectarianism.
Official interest in the border (apart from security matters), only emerged in 1983 when the Economic and Social Committee of the EEC issued a report on Irish Border Areas highlighting the serious socio-economic problems. Since the 1990s border communities, both north and south, have benefited significantly from an array of programmes funded by the EU, the British and Irish governments and international donors. Most of the practical difficulties of life along the border, such as customs and security posts, were removed during the 1990s, with the introduction of the EU Single Market and the end of paramilitary violence. This has enabled some restoration of traditional cross-border networks. Britain's decision to leave the EU threatened to restore these administrative barriers, but concerted efforts by the Irish government and the strong support from the EU ensured that this was avoided.
Although the Irish border has practically disappeared on the ground, legacies remain. Over the past century it has reconfigured community and personal identities, and it remains a potent political symbol for both nationalists and unionists.