Chapter 9: Irishness, Governance, Migration Controls and World Views

The initial section of this chapter addresses participants’ perceptions of Irish governance specifically with regard to the welfare nation state. From here, participants’ sense of the benefits of the welfare state, as well as rights and responsibilities are explored. A significant theme that emerged relates to participants’ understandings of ‘free’ education, healthcare provisions and the welfare state. The following section details how the welfare state is perceived as flawed both because of maladministration of state policies and practices and because of abuse by citizens. Participants also allude to the oppositional condition of ‘us’ and ‘them’ in discussing who can avail of state provisions. The notion of ‘us’ as opposed to ‘them’ is described in a simplistic anecdotal account which relies on notions of familial association and is underpinned by ideology associated with private ownership.