The Poverty and Social Exclusion Survey 2012 included questions, first asked in 2002/3, designed to capture the impact of the ‘Troubles’ on people’s lives. In this presentation for the Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series, Mike Tomlinson presents the initial analysis of these findings. The 2012 results survey found that just under a half of all adults (45%) experienced either the death or injury of someone they knew personally. For more than a third of adults (35%), someone they knew was killed.

This paper, presented to the ASITIS Children of Conflict Conference on 26 March 2012, addresses the question of what has the Northern Ireland conflict got to do with the challenges we face in addressing the needs, rights and opportunities of our young people today, especially those who are out of work and detached from education and training.

On 27 February 2012, Owen Patterson MP, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland debated the Welfare Reform Bill at Queen’s University, Belfast. Mike Tomlinson, Head of the School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work was the respondent and in his response he argues that the reform delivers £18 billion in cuts across the UK (£600m in Northern Ireland) while aligning the benefits and tax credit systems to a more unpredictable and flexible labour market.

Presentation to University College Cork, Poverty Methods Summer School in June 2012.