Royal Irish Academy Conference: Spatial Justice and the Irish Crisis 23 April, 2013, Academy House The on-going crisis and associated responses to it (political, governance, popular etc.) provides an entry point for a wide-ranging exploration of spatial justice as a theoretical construct and a departure point for empirical analysis. Discourses of justice, equality and fairness remain central to a range of interconnected debates as Ireland seeks to recover from the interrelated collapses of the banking system and property markets and the knock on effects through the rest of society and the economy. Scale is an important dimension in framing and constructing popular discourses concerning issues of justice, e.g. the role of EU institutions in shaping Ireland’s treatment of banking debt or the impact of national budgetary measures on particular places. The focus of this conference is on understanding these spatially connected processes, how they are functioning at different scales, their impact on particular or specific places and spaces, as they give rise to new or evolving social and economic geographies.

1. Distribution of workers and jobs
in Ireland Industrial Change andin Ireland: Industrial Change and
Issues of Injustice?Issues of Injustice?
David MeredithDavid Meredith

2. OverviewOverview
• Critique of past (current) failure to enact regional /
rural development ‘policy’
– 1999 White Paper (Neo‐endogenous rural development)
– Changing governance arrangementsChanging governance arrangements
• Response to past lack of success
– Neo‐liberal fix, i.e. Facilitate the penetration of capital into rural
spaces
– Focus on initiatives focused on physical (capital) development
• Permissive housing policy, both one‐off and large projects (Residential /
Commercial)
• Consequences for the rest of economy
• No consideration of on‐going processes of industrial restructuring

3. OverviewOverview
• The process of investment and disinvestment is a continuous and
interrelated process This process is driven by the search for surplus valueinterrelated process. This process is driven by the search for surplus value
on the part of investors.
• The combination of all investment – disinvestment decisions made at the• The combination of all investment – disinvestment decisions made at the
investor scale results in differentiation in the levels and conditions of
development.
– Focus here is on how capital produces and reproduced labour
• Spatial Divisions of Labour

4. Before we begin…Before we begin…
• Census of Population 1986 – 2011p
• Census of Population Place of Work Datasets
2006 20112006 ‐ 2011
• The analysis equates uneven development
with particular geographical patterns.
This(largely) ignores that other dimension of s( a ge y) g o es t at ot e d e s o o
uneven development, namely differential
growth rates within and between industrialgrowth rates within and between industrial
sectors.

5. Number of Unemployed / 1000 employedNumber of Unemployed / 1000 employed
350
300
350
250
mployed
150
200
yed per 1,000 em
100
No. Unemploy
0
50
1986 1991 1996 2002 2006 2011
Male
Female
1986 1991 1996 2002 2006 2011

6. Industrial Structure of Male Employment
1 200 000
p y
1,000,000
1,200,000
800,000
mployed
Other
Professional Services
P bli Ad i i t ti d
600,000
berofMenEm
Public Administration and
Defence
Transport and Communications
Commerce
200 000
400,000
Numb
Commerce
Manufacturing and related
industries
Construction
0
200,000
1986 1991 1996 2002 2006 2011
Construction
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
1986 1991 1996 2002 2006 2011

7. Industrial Structure of Female Employmentp y
1 200 000
1,000,000
1,200,000
800,000
Employed
Other
Professional Services
600,000
erofWomenE
Professional Services
Public Administration and
Defence
Transport and Communications
200 000
400,000
Numbe
Commerce
Manufacturing and related
industries
0
200,000
1986 1991 1996 2002 2006 2011
Construction
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
1986 1991 1996 2002 2006 2011

14. Impact of the recession on employmentp p y
150 000
50,000
100,000
150,000
-50,000
0
semployed
200 000
-150,000
-100,000
berofperson
Job Lost
Jobs Gained
Net Change
-300,000
-250,000
-200,000
angeinnumb
-400,000
-350,000
Males Females
Ch
Males Females

15. Industrial Restructuring 2006 2011Industrial Restructuring 2006 ‐ 2011
150 000
50 000
100,000
150,000
nsemployed
-50 000
0
50,000
berofperson
-150,000
-100,000
-50,000
hangeinnumb
Female
Male
150,000
Ch

16. 2006 Average Travel Distance2006 – Average Travel Distance
25
20
25
10
15
0
5
Male
Female

17. 2011 Average Travel Distance2011 – Average Travel Distance
25
20
25
10
15
0
5
Male
Female

18. Change in Manufacturing Employment
2006 ‐ 2011
120000
100000
120000
80000
60000 2006
2011
20000
40000
0
20000
Urban RuralUrban Rural

19. Age cohort analysis of male
l h i f iemployment change in Manufacturing
2000
0
1000
2000
d
-2000
-1000
alesemployed
-4000
-3000
numberofma
Net Urban Change
-6000
-5000
Changeinn
Net Urban Change
Net Rural Change
-8000
-7000
20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75+
Age as of 2011Age as of 2011

20. Age cohort analysis of female
employment change in Manufacturing
2000
0
1000
2000
d
-2000
-1000
lesemployed
-4000
-3000
mberoffema
Net Urban Change
Net Rural Change
-6000
-5000
Changeinnum
-8000
-7000
20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75+
C
Age as of 2011Age as of 2011

21. Change (%) in Average Distance to
Work: Manufacturing
100 00
80.00
100.00
40.00
60.00
0.00
20.00
Male
Female
-20.00

22. ConclusionsConclusions
• The unequal development of the Irish economy with its extremes of wealth and• The unequal development of the Irish economy, with its extremes of wealth and
poverty, its rapid pace of urbanization and environmental degradation, has
accelerated rather than diminished over the past quarter century.
• Deindustrialization and regional decline, extended urbanisation or
extrametropolitan growth and a new international division of labour, in which
Ireland is a highly active player, “are not separate developments but symptoms of
a much deeper transformation in the geography of capitalism” within Irelanda much deeper transformation in the geography of capitalism within Ireland
(Smith, 2008 P.1).
• These developments are extensions of changing patterns of (uneven) development
witnessed within the Eurozone, the EU and globally.
• Though many of the drivers of unequal development operate at surpa‐state scales,
the state plays a fundamental role in determining the impacts including spatial ofthe state plays a fundamental role in determining the impacts, including spatial, of
these drivers.