Welfare Regimes under the Irish Poor Law, 1850-1921

<p>Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.</p>This data was collected as a part of a project that set out to investigate the history of statutory poor relief in Ireland from the end of the Great Famine in 1850 to the establishment of an independent Irish state in 1922. Using qualitative and quantitative data, it explored the character, organisation and operation of the poor law in Ireland. The project combined macro and micro analysis to compile a picture of poor relief that moved from the national perspective, through the regional, to the local. Annual published returns of poor law statistics were used to identify national, regional and local trends in the provision and utilisation of relief, revealing the existence of what appear to be distinct welfare regimes with both regional and ideological characteristics. Case studies of twelve poor law unions throughout the country were then undertaken utilising the administrative records of the poor law boards in order to explore the influence of factors such as religion, politics and regional economics on the scope and character of relief practices. By analysing both general trends in relief policy and practice, and the micro-politics of relief, the project has produced new insights into the understanding and experience of poverty in post-Famine Ireland and the evolution of welfare systems.<br><B>Main Topics</B>:<br>The data produced by the project can be grouped into two main types, national and local. There is one national database of poor law statistics covering the whole of Ireland. This contains relief and expenditure figures extracted from the annual published returns for all of the 163 poor law unions in Ireland for the period 1850-1914 (Full sets of figure were not produced after this date). The remaining data relates to the poor law unions selected as case studies. These were: Belfast, Ballycastle and Ballymoney in the north: Glenties, Westport and Tralee in the West; and North Dublin, Cork, Kinsale, Thurles, Mountmellick and Kilmallock in the south. The aim was to provide a representative cross section of unions, although the availability of source material also influenced the final selection. Where workhouse admissions registers were available (Belfast, Ballycastle, Ballymoney, Glenties, Cork, Kinsale, North Dublin and Thurles), these were used to create spread sheets. The information is recorded as it was entered in the registers. Whenever possible, the registers for census years were used, but this was not possible in all cases. Details of all admissions for the administrative Year (October to September) were entered unless the number of admissions was too great to include every admission in which case sampling was used. This applied to Belfast, where all admissions for particular months were entered, and to Cork and North Dublin 1901, where every 10th admission was entered. Spread sheets were also created from outdoor relief registers for Ballycastle and Ballymoney. Where admission registers were not available, weekly indoor and outdoor relief figures were extracted from the minute books at five or ten-year intervals creating spread sheets. Notes were taken from the minute books from census years of decisions taken and other relevant information. These are available as text files