Page 33 - Garda Journal Summer 2019

FEATURE | Digital Repository of Ireland
The DRI continues to grow with every year it is in operation, and there are currently nine collections available:
FARMERS AND RELATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY: CREATED BY ÁINE MACKEN-WALSH, 2018
The collection explores the topic of relational sustainability in Ireland. It consists of interviews that were conducted with the Biographic Narrative Interpretive Method, which is commonly used to elicit an uninterrupted life narrative from the participant. Voice of fishers, rural dwellers and farmers are all featured and explore their lived experience in their communities through a number of relationships. Interpersonal relationships and how they relate to the land and animals are major talking points, as are insights on the relations between animals and land.
FARMERS AND THEIR INVENTIONS: CREATED BY TRISH O’FLYNN, 2015
This collection is restricted to three parties (researchers, teachers and current third-level students) due to its academic origins. The Open University (UK) conducted a doctoral research project titled “From Knowledge to Invention: Exploring User Innovation in Irish Agriculture” from 2012 to 2016. It aimed to highlight both the development process and motivating factors (social, economic and cultural) of those innovative farmers who have created new inventions to assist in the farming process. It also explored how those farmers related with formal agricultural organisations and what the conditions were for them to share or commercialise their new inventions.
In 2015, five in-depth interviews took place with male farmer-inventors and were conducted with the Biographic-Narrative Interpretive Method. Five semi- structured interviews also took place that same year with organisations that support Irish innovation. The DRI collection highlights four transcripts from these interviews (two with advising organisations and two with the farmers themselves), and all names have been anonymised.
PREPARING FOR LIFE: CREATED BY NORTHSIDE PARTNERSHIP AND ORLA DOYLE, 2008-2015 Preparing for Life (PFL) is operated by the Northside Partnership and seeks to improve school readiness amongst children from disadvantaged areas in North Dublin. This community-led programme utilises home visits to help struggling parents develop the necessary skills to aid their children in preparing for school. It intervenes as early as pregnancy and
will stay with families until the children actually begin their education. The PFL programme defines school readiness by the following characteristics: motor development and physical well-being; literacy and language development; approaches to learning; emotional and social development; and cognitive development and general knowledge.
The UCD Geary Institute at University College Dublin evaluated the PFL programme between 2008 and 2015 and put forth a mixed methods approach by collecting both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data focused on how successfully the PFL school readiness characteristics manifested in children and whether mothers experienced growth in knowledge and parenting styles. Qualitative data took the form of interviews with PFL parents, PFL staff members and the children who went through the programme.
PRIVATE PAPERS AT DUBLIN CITY ARCHIVES: CREATED BY DUBLIN CITY ARCHIVES, 1979-2017 The private papers featured in this collection and managed by Dublin City Archives centre around correspondence between and personal papers from members of the English family. The letters include a wide array of topics, such as marriage and job advice, plans to visit one another and applications for work compensation.
DEBATING AUSTERITY IN IRELAND: CRISIS, EXPERIENCE AND RECOVERY: CREATED BY ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY, 2018
Austerity can be defined as the challenging economic conditions that follow governmental measures enacted to reduce public expenditures. Ireland has experienced great austerity after the recent financial and economic crisis, and this has sparked much debate amongst the public and across the social sciences. As people have tried to understand what austerity is, its purpose, and its consequences, opinions have been largely polarised and one dimensional. This book encourages its readers to consider the finer details related to austerity and, ultimately, the means for economic and financial recovery. The voices of leading national and international experts in all fields of the social sciences are featured to discuss and debate this period of Ireland’s history.
DUBLIN RECONSTRUCTION (EMERGENCY PROVISIONS) ACT 1916: CREATED BY DUBLIN CORPORATION, 1917-1923
After the Easter Rising caused the destruction of numerous buildings in Dublin city centre, the Dublin Reconstruction (Emergency Provisions) Act of 1916 was passed in order to provide loans to replace the damaged buildings and construct new ones. This collection includes both loan applications and application records, queries about loans and Dublin city centre property valuations from after the Rising.
ROYAL DUBLIN FUSILIERS ASSOCIATION ARCHIVE: CREATED BY THE ROYAL DUBLIN FUSILIERS ASSOCIATION ARCHIVE, 1914-1999 To honor Irish citizens who volunteered, served and gave their lives during World War I, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association (RDFA) was created in 1996. The RDFA accomplishes its main goal by publishing its own journal, Blue Cap, and organising public events
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