European Social Inclusion Strategy: Lessons learned and the road ahead.

As the title indicates, this text provides a timely reminder of Ireland’s longstanding emersion in all things European social policy and how membership of the European Union (EU) has shaped and continues to shape the trajectories of the Irish welfare state, particularly in relation to social inclusion policy formulation and delivery. The book is divided into twelve well structured and user friendly chapters. Each chapter is produced to a high standard both in actual content and presentation. This is not surprising given the contributions of the ‘who’s who ’ of Irish social policy scholars and practitioners (Séamus Ó Cinnéide, Niall Crowley, Gerry Mangan, Fintan Farrell and Helen Johnston to name but a few) who have committed their careers to advancing issues around marginalisation and social exclusion and, in so doing, have consistently invoked progressive EU policy prescriptions to welfare state dysfunctionality in Ireland. Broadly, the book is divided into three sections: section one focuses on the historical contexts of Ireland’s relationship with an evolving EEC social policy agenda and how Ireland, despite its relative lack of geo-political clout, significantly contributed to the shaping of this agenda during the late 1970s; section two seeks to advance the ways i