Abstract
In April 2020, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released the results of its Social Impact of Covid-19 survey on well-being in the Republic of Ireland. Since then, some further results were published in August and November 2020, and February 2021, offering a year-long review on well-being in Ireland during the pandemic. In February 2021, as Ireland experienced the “most stringent lockdown” among European nations, Irish people’s well-being indicators worsened, even though a series of measures had been implemented by the Irish State to alleviate the economic and social consequences of Covid-19 on the population, and Irish businesses.
Interestingly, the Irish coalition led by Micheál Martin (Fianna Fáil) placed the notion of well-being at the core of its strategy. The Programme for Government: Our shared future, published in June 2020, stated: “The well-being of our nation, however, goes beyond the narrow confines of economic growth. Over the next 5 years, the Government will use well-being indicators as well as economic indicators to point out inequalities and help ensure that policies are driven by a desire to do better by people” [4].
A series of questions form the core of this chapter: Has the definition of well-being in Ireland been transformed by the Covid-19 pandemic? Are well-being indicators under consideration by the Irish State addressing the needs of specific people? Would the implementation of economic and social measures mark a shift towards a fairer and happier Irish society?
This chapter is part of ongoing research by the two authors on the economic and social consequences of Covid-19 on Irish society. As it is a real-time study, its results will only be tentative since Ireland was still in the midst of the pandemic at the time of writing (May 2022), and the full impact of the pandemic has not been fully assessed, be it in Ireland or in any other countries.
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Notes
- 1.
See, for instance, Maria Cotofan, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Marta Golin, Micah Kaats, George Ward, “Work and Well-being during Covid-19: Impact, Inequalities, Resilience, and the Future of Work”, in John F. Helliwell, Richard Layard, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Lara B. Aknin, and Shun Wang, World Happiness Report 2021, pp. 153–190.
- 2.
In Ireland, research often tends to associate well-being with happiness or life satisfaction. For example, David Madden in “The Impact of an Economic Boom on the Level and Distribution of Well-Being: Ireland, 1994–2001” (2010) or Brendan M. Walsh in “Well-being and economic conditions in Ireland” (2011) discuss subjective well-being as being close to happiness and life satisfaction.
- 3.
See Philip Hyland, Frédérique Vallières et al. “Covid-19 mental health survey by Maynooth University and Trinity College finds high rates of anxiety”. Maynooth: Maynooth University, 2020; Tom Burke, Anna Berry et al. “Increased psychological distress during Covid-19 and quarantine in Ireland: a national survey”. Journal of Clinical Medicine 2020; 28; (9) 11.
- 4.
For a chronology of Covid-related events in Ireland, see Antoine Masdupuy, “La République d’Irlande face à l’épidémie de Coronavirus”, in Droit, santé et Société, 2020/1, pp. 58–62. Paul Cullen, Dean Ruxton, Colm Keena, Amanda Ferguson, “Coronavirus: Man treated in Dublin hospital as officials trace contacts”, Irish Times, 29 February 2020.
- 5.
The Taoiseach is the Irish and official name of the Prime Minister in the Republic of Ireland.
- 6.
Leo Varadkar (Fine Gael) was the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland between 2017 and 2020. The election of February 2020 was a three-party race: Sinn Fein got 24.5% of the votes, Fianna Fail 22%, and Fine Gael with 21% of the votes. 130 days after the general election, a coalition between Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, and the Greens was formed as a way to keep nationalist party Sinn Féin out of power, which came first as voters were dissatisfied with a lack of housing and a poor healthcare system. It was the first time in Irish history that the two centre-right parties entered government together. Under the deal, Micheál Martin became the Taoiseach and Leo Varadkar the Tánaiste or deputy prime minister. It was decided that the roles would be reversed in December 2022.
- 7.
“The economic outlook is uncertain and depends on factors including the possibility of new waves of the virus, the emergence of new virus mutations, the stringency and duration of continued and/or new containment measures, the success of measures in controlling the spread of the virus, effective vaccines being rolled out and the behavioural response of consumers and firms when the economy reopens etc”. Those elements could all impact on the well-being of people (inc. hospitalizations) and contribute to that uncertainty about the future that was prevalent at the time. See Abian Garcia-Rodrigueza, Adele Bergina, Luke Rehillb, and Éamonn Sweeney, “Exploring the Impact of Covid-19 and Recovery Paths for the Economy”, ESRI, Working Paper 706, August 2021, p. 2.
- 8.
Interestingly, the authors specified that its contents did not represent the views of the Department of Finance nor the Government’s: “Unless explicitly referenced by Government decision, any proposal contained in this document does not represent Government policy and should not be represented as such. The analysis and views set out in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of the Minister for Finance”. Furthermore, well-being and living standards are used to refer to the same concept which introduces a bias into the document from the outset as well as important limitations: “For the purposes of this paper, the terms well-being and living standards will be used interchangeably to refer to the same concept” (Department of Finance, 2020 3).
- 9.
See also “Firstly, they are disconnected from living conditions and in particular distributional outcomes and inequalities. Secondly, they do not reflect the enormous value of the environment or give any indication of the sustainability of current output or income—current patterns of resource use and economic activity generally are putting huge pressure on the planet in a way that threatens the ability to meet future needs. Policy-making that ignores these weaknesses and focuses solely on GDP and equivalent aggregate economic measures could, “drive activities which may have a negative impact on well-being in the long-term”” (Department of Taoiseach, 2021).
- 10.
Read as well Didier Blanchet et Marc Fleurbaey, “De quoi le PIB est la mesure et comment le dépasser”, La vie des idées, février 2021, https://laviedesidees.fr/De-quoi-le-PIB-est-la-mesure-et-comment-le-depasser.html [last accessed 4 January 2022].
- 11.
For this matter, a working group was established to work on this framework, in association with government’s departments, the NESC, the CSO, and members of civil societies. They met four times between March and June 2021, but until now, no minutes have been published. Does it mean that the interest for such a consultation has eroded?
- 12.
Covid-19 Information Hub. https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-Covid19/Covid-19informationhub/ [last accessed 15 April 2022].
- 13.
Late data from the CSO showed that 44.2% rated their overall life satisfaction as “high” in 2018 when Ireland’s economic growth had recovered from the economic crisis. This latter period was marked by a lower rate at 31.1% in 2013. See infographics on CSO website at https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-Covid19/Covid-19informationhub/socialandwell-being/socialimpactofCovid-19survey/ [last accessed 15 April 2022].
- 14.
Face coverings were already compulsory for public transport.
- 15.
Similar findings on other groups among the population have been found. According to recent studies, the Covid-19 pandemic has tended to worsen the disadvantages experienced by migrants and ethnic minorities in Ireland. See McGinnity et al., (2020). Covid-19 and non-Irish nationals in Ireland [Report]. ESRI and Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. https://doi.org/10.26504/bkmnext404 [last accessed 24 April 2022]; Hennessy, (2021, January 6). The Impacts of Covid-19 on Ethnic Minority and Migrant Groups in Ireland. National Economic & Social Council, Research Series, Paper No.18. http://files.nesc.ie/nesc_research_series/research_series_paper_18_Covid19Migrants.pdf [last accessed 24 April 2022].
- 16.
During that period, especially during the second lockdown, some buildings in colleges and universities remained open such as libraries.
- 17.
This report was presented during one of the webinars the Economic and Social Research Institute organized during the lockdown. Webinar: Implications of the Covid-19 pandemic for policy in relation to children and young people—20 July 2020. Merike Darmody, Emer Smyth and Helen Russell, The Implications of the Covid-19 Pandemic for Policy in Relation to Children and Young People: a Research Review, ESRI, Research Review, number 94, July 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26504/sustat94
- 18.
An online consultation of young people between 15 and 24 took place during the summer 2020. The goal was to better understand how young people experienced Covid-19 in Ireland. 2173 valid responses were used for this survey (Department for children, disability, equality and integration and SpunOut 2020).
- 19.
more women (38%) than men (31%), travelers: 40%.
- 20.
This ranged from those who were only somewhat fed up about having restrictions placed on their movements to those who found themselves completely trapped in highly dysfunctional domestic situations. Young women and Travellers were more likely to report cabin fever. Many of the over-18 s who had been forced to return to live in the family home, commented on losing their independence and adult freedoms, which sometimes led to a strain on family relations (Department for Children, Disability, Equality and Integration and SpunOut, 2020, 15).
- 21.
Again more women 23% than men 13%.
- 22.
Paschal Donohoe TD (2021, March 4). “The Pandemic: One Year On”. Speech by Minister for Finance Mr. Paschal Donohoe TD, Economic and Social Research Institute, https://www.gov.ie/en/speech/ad527-the-pandemic-one-year-on-speech-by-the-minister-for-finance-mr-paschal-donohoe-td-economic-and-social-research-institute-march-4th-2021/ [last accessed 4 March 2022].
- 23.
This inability to gain experience means that young people find it harder to get a first-time experience on the job market. They could face some extra difficulties to move on to better paid jobs once they have acquired some work experience. In that sense, it would represent a form of disadvantage compared to other groups.
- 24.
The report refers to the release valve of migration (outward migration), no longer possible during Covid and lockdown (as a difference with the Global financial crisis—“for pressure in the Irish labour market with large levels of emigration synonymous with recessions in the country”)—Matthew Allen-Coghlan and Petros Varthalitis, Comparing two recessions in Ireland: Global Financial Crisis vs Covid-19, ESRI Research Notes 2020/4/1, https://doi.org/10.26504/rn20200401, p. 8.
- 25.
Houses of the Oireachtas, Parliamentary Budget Office (2021, September 15). A Well-being Framework for Ireland—the Parliamentary Perspective, Pub. 22. Retrieved May 8, 2022, from https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/parliamentaryBudgetOffice/2021/2021-09-15_a-well-being-framework-for-ireland-the-parliamentary-perspective_en.pdf
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Boullet, V., Guillaumond, J. (2022). Covid-19 and Well-Being Policies in Ireland. A Preliminary Study with a Focus on Young People. In: Dalingwater, L., Boullet, V., Costantini, I., Gibbs, P. (eds) The Unequal Costs of Covid-19 on Well-being in Europe. Human Well-Being Research and Policy Making. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14425-7_5
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