Reports

Ireland has launched an ambitious strategy to build a more inclusive, efficient and sustainable justice sector. Irish citizens recognise these efforts: Ireland is one of the OECD countries with a higher percentage of citizens trusting their government and courts, according to the recent OECD Survey on the Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions. This study aims to support these efforts by analysing the judicial workforce and relevant support structures and processes currently employed by the Irish courts. In particular, the study seeks to contribute to the deliberations of the Irish Judicial Planning Working Group, which was established to identify reform initiatives and evaluate staffing needs to enhance the efficient administration of justice over the next five years.

Irish authorities are reshaping the nation’s higher education landscape, creating a network of technological universities that merge, build on, and extend the mission of the country’s institutes of technology. Its emerging technological universities are tasked with providing research-informed teaching and learning across all levels of higher education, linking their programmes to the needs of their region’s citizens, businesses and professions. This paper was commissioned by Ireland’s Higher Education Authority and Department for Further and Higher Education, Research and Innovation, who asked the OECD to identify a set of benchmark higher education institutions from other OECD countries that can provide insights for the development of future Irish technological universities through examination of their human resource policies, career paths and organisational structures. Drawing upon this evidence, and analysis of current policies in Ireland’s institutes of technology and technological universities, this analysis identifies options for new career and employment contracts and organisation structures

Being able to swim empowers individuals to make choices, have agency, and be free to choose core aspects of their life, such as working safely on or near water. It is also associated with lifelong health benefits and reduces the risk of drowning. Using data from the Lloyd’s Register Foundation World Risk Poll 2019, this paper provides the first global estimates of adults’ ability to swim without assistance. Individuals in high-income countries are considerably more likely to report being able to swim without assistance than individuals in low-income countries. Disparities also exist within countries. In particular, women are less likely to be able to swim without assistance than men in virtually all countries, birth cohorts, and levels of education. Investing in reducing inequalities in life skills, such as swimming, can foster economic development and empowerment, especially in light of threats, such as climate change.

Understanding adults’ attitudes towards the environment is necessary to gauge the opportunities and challenges of creating effective and politically-feasible climate policies. Using data from the Wellcome Global Monitor 2020, the European Social Survey (Round 8), World Values Survey and EM-DAT, this paper examines how adults’ environmental attitudes vary within and across countries and details how environmental attitudes are associated with adults’ engagement in pro-environmental behaviours and support for environmentally-friendly policies. The paper explores whether the extent to which individuals prioritise the environment over the state of the economy or vice versa depends on individuals’ exposure to natural disasters or negative labour market conditions. Results indicate that people’s economic vulnerability and the sectors they work in impact their attitudes towards their environment and support for public policy. Furthermore, the findings suggest that increases in unemployment and exposure to natural disasters influence the extent to which individuals prioritise the environment.

Current mobility patterns in Ireland are incompatible with the country’s target to halve emissions in the transport sector by 2030. While important, electrification and fuel efficiency improvements in vehicles are insufficient to meet Ireland’s ambitious target: large behavioural change in the direction of sustainable modes and travel reductions are needed. Such changes will only be possible if policies can shift Irish transport systems away from car dependency. Building on the OECD process 'Systems Innovation for Net Zero' and extensive consultation with Irish stakeholders, this report assesses the potential of implemented and planned Irish policies to transform car-dependent systems. It identifies transformative policies that can help Ireland transition to sustainable transport systems that work for people and the planet. It also provides recommendations to scale up such transformative policies and refocus the electrification strategy so that it fosters, rather than hinders, transformational change.

The paper is the first in a series of two papers mapping young people’s environmental sustainability competence in EU and OECD countries that were prepared as background for the forthcoming OECD Skills Outlook 2023 publication. The papers are the results of a collaboration between the OECD Centre for Skills and the European Commission - Joint Research Centre (Unit B4) on students’ environmental sustainability competence. The second paper is titled: ‘The environmental sustainability competence toolbox: From leaving a better planet to our children to leaving better children for our planet’.

The paper is the second in a series of two papers mapping young people’s environmental sustainability competence in EU and OECD countries that were prepared as background for the forthcoming OECD Skills Outlook 2023 publication. The papers are the results of a collaboration between the OECD Centre for Skills and the European Commission - Joint Research Centre (Unit B4) on students’ environmental sustainability competence. The first paper is titled ‘Young people’s environmental sustainability competence: Emotional, cognitive, behavioural and attitudinal dimensions in EU and OECD countries.

Ireland is at a turning point for the transition to a circular economy. The 2022 Whole of Government Circular Economy Strategy provides the policy framework for the circular economy in the country, and the forthcoming Circular Economy Bill is expected to strengthen waste and circular economy legislation. Nevertheless, with a circularity material use rate of 2% in 2020, Ireland shows significant scope for progress. The report analyses the state of play and challenges of the circular transition in Ireland and provides policy recommendations for circular economy policy across levels of government. It is the result of a two-year policy dialogue between the OECD, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, as well as a broad range of public, private and civil society stakeholders.

This policy brief is the third in a series of thematic policy briefs in the OECD's Resourcing Higher Education Project. This wider project aims to provide a shared knowledge base for OECD member and partner countries on policy for higher education resourcing, drawing on system-specific and comparative policy analysis. The policy brief for Ireland addresses a series of specific questions about the funding of higher education institutions, formulated by Ireland’s Higher Education Authority (HEA). The brief first reviews the main factors that affect the cost of delivery in higher education (cost drivers) and the extent to which OECD jurisdictions monitor costs and use cost information to inform the design and implementation of their funding systems. It then provides an analysis of the ways in which OECD jurisdictions design models for allocating public funding to higher education institutions to promote social inclusion objectives, reward institutional performance and provide targeted resourcing for national priorities, such as increasing supply of high-demand skills.