The recent crises of BSE and FMD in the United Kingdom have revealed widespread concerns on the part of farmers and consumers about government regulations and handling of animal movements, animal welfare, and food safety. Both crises raised issues of government accountability and the lack of openness in public debate. The issues of democratic process and decision-making were especially strong in relation to the mass slaughter policy of the government to control FMD. This article explores public disquiet about these matters, (...) as expressed through the reports of two public inquiries, and the perceived links between government decision-making and the needs of global agribusiness, to the detriment of family farms and animal welfare. In light of the growing evidence about the environmental and economic costs of agribusiness, the argument is made that strong programs of citizen action, such as the Devon Foot and Mouth Inquiry, that are grounded in an ethical stance on animal welfare can challenge the perspectives of central governments about concepts of cost, efficiency, and safety in agriculture. (shrink)

This article presents some of the findings from the original research carried out with asylum seeking and refugee women in Ireland who were pregnant or who had recently given birth. The explosion in numbers in Ireland from 1998 onwards has been such that this group now comprises more than one in five of every birth in the country's three major maternity hospitals, all based in Dublin. The article explores the background reasons for the major increase in recent years of this (...) group of women. It discusses the difficult circumstances encountered by women who must engage with a system of maternity care unused to such complex needs, amidst a general policy climate of uncertainty and even hostility towards asylum seekers. The research findings contribute to the feminist literature on maternity and challenge us to examine the way in which globalization is impacting on women as mothers and the need for challenging Western states anew on the development of a more coherent model of maternity care in response to the needs of such women. (shrink)

This article explores the background to the conclusive drop in Irish fertility rates over the last two decades, from a total fertility rate of 3.55 in 1975 to 1.87 in 1995. This steep decline marks the end of Ireland's position as demographic outlier in Europe, which has proved a compelling topic of investigation for demographers. The decline also marks the end of a society which was characterized by an ideology of largely rural values which placed stringent restrictions on women in (...) order to secure a vision of society which saw the family as its cornerstone. The article analyses the collective impact of women's battles for personal autonomy which have brought about dramatic changes in public policies about contraception, abortion and divorce, changes which have consistently lagged behind these dramatic shifts in fertility. (shrink)