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This research examined changes in Dublin’s tertiary city centre shopping streets over a 30‐year period to 2002. An observational study of the occupancy of the city’s tertiary streetscape was undertaken in the summer of 2002 and compared with historical data. Results indicate significant change over the period examined: an increased vacancy rate, a very low survival rate, a considerable incidence of non‐retail specific activities, a decline in traditional retail offerings and the emergence of new categories of retailer. The paper concludes by suggesting a proactive approach is required by present day retailers in the tertiary streets to ensure future survival.

Compares the gross margins on a range of retail business categories across six European Community countries and the USA, using data derived from official national statistics. Results show that the USA had the highest gross margins for most comparable categories, followed by Britain, and Ireland had the lowest margins in nearly every category. These margin differences did not have a strong correlation with GDP per head of population. Discusses several limitations of both the data and their interpretation. Argues that gross margin as a percentage of retail sales is a useful comparative measure of the gross cost of the retail function. Queries the relevance of the output measure value added to micro‐economic analysis, in the context of increased externalization of services and labour.

Local shopping is a topic that has been neglected for many years by both retail researchers and policy makers. However, in recent years it has come on to the agenda again, mainly because a number of government policy areas – including social exclusion, regeneration and sector competitiveness – have recognised the vital community role played by small shops, and the problems of maintaining their vitality and viability. Within that context, introduces the special issue of IJRDM which presents a number of papers on the general theme of retailing for communities that were given at the CIRM Conference held in Manchester on 13 September 2002. They fall into three main groups: local shopping areas; business strategy and operations; and, learning, training and support for small retailers. The papers illustrate the diversity of research that needs to be undertaken in this area, and there are close parallels with work being undertaken in other management and social science disciplines.

As younger generations navigate a blended reality, their interaction with digital content and apps is marked by multitasking. Gender intersects with media and individual preferences, shaping how people navigate digital realms. This chapter investigates how young adults perceive personal digital experiences, analysing them based on various socio-demographic factors. Using a quantitative approach, a survey was conducted with 1,500 young adults in Portugal in October 2021. The sample was representative of the population distribution by sex, age and region. Statistical analysis revealed correlations between digital behaviours and socio-demographic factors such as gender, sexual orientation and parenthood status. Results indicated significant differences in agreement levels among different groups, highlighting areas such as online harassment, content creation, social interaction and digital intimacy. The findings challenge assumptions of homogeneity in generational technology usage and underscore the importance of considering diverse demographic perspectives in digital research. This chapter sheds light on the interplay between technology, identity and social connections, emphasising the relevance of gender in digital platform studies.

This article presents a theoretical and empirical discussion of the way in which computer technologies (the internet) influence the production of sexuality, sexual fantasies, and specific sexual behaviors. This discussion is based on the case study of an Israeli website for sexual encounters, which its users say has brought out (or enabled) a specific sexuality that would not have emerged were it not for the new technology. This article focuses on a particular population from among the sites users: married men who surf the site to find men with whom to have one-off sexual encounters, and who report a positive experience of “life in the closet.” A total of 34 men were interviewed, 6 face-to-face and 28 in online interviews. The findings include three main accounts: (1) most of the interviewees said that the new technology (the website) enabled them to invent a new existential category, that of “married straight men who sometimes have sexual encounters with other men.” This category is seen as enabling a new sexuality, or a sexuality that would not have been enacted were it not for the internet; (2) the interviewees spoke of how “life in the closet,” and in particular entering and exiting it (which was called a “zigzag sexuality” or the “revolving doors of the closet”), creates an experience of a vital sexuality that fits in with their marriage to a woman and their life as a “straight” man; (3) many interviewees explained how the technology enabled them to keep their sexuality secret, where the secrecy itself was said to create a unique sexual desire. The discussion section shows how the new technology enables individuals to invent a new sexuality, to enact unique sexual fantasies, and to maintain an alternative self, or alternative components of their concept of self.

Equality of rights for individuals who identify as being lesbian or gay (LG) have emerged over recent years, and significant advancements have been made in recognition and support of LG rights in Ireland. Given the recent change in legal rights for the LG population, Civil Partnership 2010 and Marriage Equality 2015, this paper aims to explore the lived experience of daily occupations of LG adult’s in Ireland today, by applying an occupational justice lens.

A qualitative phenomenological research study, examined the concept of occupational justice as experienced by eight adults, who identified as being LG. Data was collected through face to face, semi-structured interviews.

Four themes capturing the complexity of each participant’s experience of daily occupations and occupational justice emerged, namely, transitions and personal journeys, celebrating differences, empowerment through occupation and inner conflict. Findings demonstrate how occupational justice is experienced as a complex, contextually embedded and dynamic process specific to each individual.

Future research in this area should aim to explore the experiences of both a younger and older LG population, along with those who identify as bisexual, transgender, queer or intersex to continue to raise awareness of the potential for occupational injustice within this minority population.

Current domestic and international research predominantly examines the past experiences of people seeking asylum and the negative influences such experiences have on health and well-being. However, few studies address the future needs of people seeking asylum, as they transition from Direct Provision. This study aims to address this gap in knowledge by exploring the perspectives of women seeking asylum in Ireland on the skills they think they will need, as they transition from Direct Provision to life in Ireland.

A qualitative methodology using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach was used, to collect data collaboratively and sensitively with a vulnerable population group. Convenience sampling was used to recruit six women seeking asylum in Ireland, to participate in focus groups and semi-structured interviews. Data were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis.

Women seeking asylum identified four themes of skills for doing, skills for being, skills for becoming and skills for belonging that are necessary for life in Ireland after Direct Provision. Barriers and opportunities to develop these skills were documented as sub-themes. The skills identified under these themes and sub-themes included work, education, driving, childcare, social integration, money management, home management, health management and leisure.

Using participatory methodologies, future research should further explore the skills required for transition from Direct Provision, to continue to raise awareness of the potential for occupational injustice and the role occupational therapists could play in this transitional period.

THE traditional division of information services into science and technology on the one hand and the humanities on the other, does nothing to improve the provision of information in a multi‐disciplinary subject such as planning. The proposal to make separate provision, within the national framework, for the social sciences, which was put forward by J. E. Pemberton in the November issue of this journal, would only serve to further fragment the sources of information in planning.

WHEN The Crock of Gold was first published in London in 1912, this extraordinary prose‐fantasy, described by a reviewer in The Times as ‘an inspired medley of topsy‐turvydom’, was hailed as a veritable masterpiece from the hands of a new poet of the same school with Yeats and Synge. That poet was, of course, James Stephens, the poet whom Sean O'Casey would later refer to as ‘the jesting poet with a radiant star in's coxcomb’, and to whom he dedicated, in 1949, his favourite play, Cock‐a‐Doodle Dandy. The reviewer in Punch at the time likened The Crock of Gold to ‘a fairy fantasy, elvish, grotesque, realistic, allegorical, humorous, satirical, idealistic, and poetical by turns … and very beautiful’.

This paper aims to provide a quantitative picture of the extent to which Irish universities are male-dominated at senior management, professoriate and governance levels; to locate this pattern in an international context; and, drawing on qualitative data from a purposive sample of Irish university senior managers, to explore the limits and possibilities of change.

The quantitative data at senior management level draw on a largely web-based study, supplemented by interview data from a purposive sample of 40 people (85 per cent response rate) in senior management positions in all seven universities funded by the state – including those at Dean to Presidential level, men and women, and academics and non-academics. The interview schedule used in the qualitative study was devised by the eight-country Women in Higher Education Management Network (WHEM).

Irish universities are very male-dominated at senior management, professoriate and governance levels. The qualitative data suggest that the limits to change are an organisational culture that is homosocial and conformist, where women and their attitudes and priorities are seen as “the problem”. Yet there was a striking level of endorsement of various discourses suggesting that having women in senior management makes a difference.

The failure of the Higher Educational Authority to collect data on the gender of those in senior management in Irish universities has necessitated the use of the web. This is an effective pragmatic response, but obviously not as satisfactory as official data.

It has been widely recognised that diversity in management teams is positively associated with innovation. In this context the absence of such diversity in the senior management teams in Irish universities raises concerns in the context of the challenges facing Irish society in general and the university sector in particular. The references to the organisational culture as conformist and homosocial raise fundamental questions about the universities ' ability to use the skills of their staff to move the institution forward.

The paper is the first specific study of senior management in Irish universities. It echoes and specifies the nature of the organisational culture – but also highlights the existence of legitimating discourses endorsed by senior managers.