ECON20060

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module you will be able to:

1. Identify and interpret key sources of information on Irish economic policy issues.
2. Apply economic reasoning to evaluate public policy in Ireland.
3. Assess potential impacts of policy making for the SDGs - across the various Social, Economic, Environment and Governance pillars of Sustainable Development.

Indicative Module Content:

- The Evolution of the Irish Economy – from Independence to the present day, highlighting the turning points that have shaped policy, growth, employment, and living standards.

- A Framework for Policy Analysis – outlining the role of the state, the rationale for intervention (market failures, distributional concerns), the tools available (taxation, regulation, spending, behavioural insights), and the different levels of government (national, EU, international).

- Cross-Cutting Policy Priorities – considering how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Care Economy must be integrated into any modern policy agenda (whether in labour markets, housing, education, poverty, industrial policy, or trade policy).

- National and Sectoral Issues – applying this framework to examine key issues and pressing challenges relating to SOME of the following:
• demography and migration
• labour markets
• inequality
• education
• Ireland’s manufacturing and internationally traded services sector

*note: topics are indicative only - not all topics are necessarily covered each year.

Student Effort Hours:

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:

- Lectures are in-person in theatre. Recordings of the lectures will be made available to students (where possible) after the lecture to help with note-taking and revision.

- current articles or debates will be referenced where relevant, which allows the application of knowledge to contemporary issues.

- 'Test Yourself!' questions posted for each topic will help students focus learning and keep up to date with the curriculum.

- Students will be required to write a policy brief on a contemporary issue. This allows for knowledge application and develops writing skills.

- On the use of AI:
AI may be used to help with the generation of ideas and the research for your policy brief. It may also be used to improve the writing style of your own work, editing or proofreading, or to assist with reference formatting for example.
It is important to note though, using the framework and criteria on ‘Writing a Policy Brief’ which will be provided to students in the Assignment outline, while AI may be used to aid with the assignment in the above mentioned ways, **ultimately the student must bring all parts of their research together and must themselves write an up-to-date policy brief based on the current environment in a coherent way, drawing on various materials as discussed in lectures and supplemented by research/articles/data/statistics from cited credible sources.

If students choose to use AI, they will be required to explicitly acknowledge this on their assignment (details on how to do this will be made clear in the Assignment document).

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Learning Recommendations:

A knowledge of basic Principles of Microeconomics and of Macroeconomics is recommended for this module.

Module Requisites and Incompatibles

Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy

 

Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Short summary feedback is provided to students individually along with their assignment grade. Students also have the opportunity to then attend 'Feedback Office Hours' for additional feedback, if they wish to.

Recommended:
O'Hagan, John , Francis O’Toole and Ciara Whelan (eds): The Economy of Ireland: Policy Making in a Global Context (15th edition), 2025, Bloomsbury

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.