The thesis examines the evidence for migration from Northern Britain to Ireland associated with the activity of the Church. It has a particular focus on British and Pictish individuals. Making use of a wide range of sources from the early medieval period onwards, detailed case-studies consider individual men and women whose activities can be discerned. They assess how the movements of these individuals contributed towards wider trends in the dynamics of migration between Northern Britain and Ireland from the coming of Christianity until the close of the eighth century. The investigation also charts the manner in which such migration was perceived in later centuries and how these perceptions changed as time progressed. A picture emerges of how the ‘migration narrative’ was developed and engaged with in both Ireland and Scotland. This was to have a significant effect on how the character of the early Church was understood.

The European Union (EU) policy of gender mainstreaming has been discussed at length in the context of embedding gender equality into the EU's internal market. The effectiveness of gender mainstreaming has been less analysed in other areas of EU competence. This PhD draws on feminist theory to explain the EU's gendered treatment of vulnerable women within the asylum system. Using a range of theories of gender equality, notably separate spheres, radical feminism, and intersectional feminism, the thesis analyses the relevant asylum legislation, judgements and guidelines in international law, EU law and the national legal systems of two EU member states: the United Kingdom and Ireland. These feminist theories provided a perspective which allowed this research to explain how the EU has failed to address significantly and meaningfully the gendered aspects of the asylum system in member states. Despite the EU's stated attempts to ensure through gender mainstreaming that the member states rely on a theory of gender equality which provides protection to women in the asylum system, this PhD found both that the EU has not sufficiently embodied an intersectional approach to gender and asylum and that member states are still more influenced by their national political culture and treatment of gender equality than that of the EU. This thesis uses that research to make recommendations at both an EU and national level to help the EU and its member states better incorporate gender mainstreaming in order to ensure human rights protection for vulnerable women. As the EU manages increasing refugee applications and increasing nationalist sentiment, this presents an opportunity to embed more thoroughly intersectional gender mainstreaming in both EU asylum policy and the EU's political culture.

Cette thèse est une étude chronologique de la présence militaire irlandaise en France sous l’Ancien Régime associé à une analyse du mythe de la Brigade Irlandaise au XVIIIe siècle. En s’appuyant sur des sources primaires, dont certaines sont inédites, les quatre premiers chapitres proposent un cadre historique de la communauté militaire irlandaise et de l’acculturation progressive, mais parfois difficile, de ses membres. Le premier chapitre se concentre sur les écrits de l’élite française et de la littérature populaire d’Angleterre face aux Irlandais lors de la « Guerre des trois rois », tandis que le deuxième se penche sur l’image des soldats irlandais dans la presse des deux côtés de la Manche à la même période. Le troisième explique comment ces hommes sont devenus au fil du temps une troupe reconnue par ses pairs dans l’armée royale, tandis que le quatrième explore les stratégies mises en place par les militaires irlandais et leurs familles pour intégrer la société d’accueil. Ces deux chapitres montrent également le déclin de la présence effective d’Irlandais dans la Brigade. La question de la mémoire de la bataille de Fontenoy est au coeur du cinquième et du sixième chapitre qui étudient minutieusement la part des Irlandais dans la journée du 11 mai 1745 et le rôle des écrits du XIXe siècle dans la naissance d’une identité militaire proprement irlandaise. L’étude se focalise sur des sources contemporaines des faits pour le premier et des documents anglais, français et irlandais datant du XIXe siècle pour le second. / This PhD is a chronological study of the military presence of Irishmen in Franceunder the Ancien Regime linked to an analysis of the myth surrounding the Irish Brigade in the18th century. Based on primary sources, some of which have been hitherto unpublished, the firstfour chapters propose an historical framework of the Irish military community and thesometimes difficult but progressive acculturation of its members. The first chapter focuses onthe writings of the French elite as well as popular literature from England about the Irish in the“War of the three kings”, while the second one is about the image of the Irish soldiers in thepress on both sides of the Channel during the same period. The third one explains how thesemen came to be recognised by their peers as a valuable unit in the French royal army and thefourth one explores the tactics used by Irish militarymen and their families to integrate intoFrench society. These two chapters also show the gradual decline of the actual presence ofIrishmen within the ranks of the Brigade. The question of the memory attached to the battle ofFontenoy is at the very core of the fifth and sixth chapters where the part played by Irishmenon the 11th of May 1745 is minutely studied. The birth of a distinct Irish military identity in19th century writings is also discussed. The study focuses on 18th century sources for the fifthchapter and 19th century sources from France, England and Ireland for the sixth.

The main goal of this thesis is to introduce the topic of public debt and its connection to budget deficit, and to compare the situation in 2 selected countries of the European Union, Ireland and Portugal. The first chapter describes the theory of public finance, its function and the main principles. It focuses on the problem of fiscal imbalance, approach of the European union (especially with regards to the Stability and Growth Pact), it also explains the theory of budget deficit and public debt. Second and third chapters are focused on the selected countries of the EU - Ireland and Portugal - as countries that are facing major problems in the area of public finance and are highly likely to ask for financial help, as it happend in the case of Greece. The chapters describe an overall economic situation of the two countries, the causes of public debt and its increase, approach of the EU towards them, proposed and agreed austerity measures, possible solutions and also further prospects for the future.

The diploma thesis is dedicated to the comparison of the consumer behaviour in the Czech Republic and Ireland. The first two chapters describe the theoretical background of the consumer behaviour and the linkage betwen consumer behaviour and marketing and also the factors, influencing the consumer behaviour. The best known consumer behaviour models are also desribed. The second part of the thesis is dedicated to the specifics of the Czech Republic and Ireland, both countries are introduced in terms of historical, cultural and economical development. The final part of the thesis focuses on the results of the primary research, conducted via online surveys among Czech and Irish consumers.

Although Northern Ireland is a part of United Kingdom and so Europe, it belongs to regions which are characterized as unstable. Lately, there has been a significant improvement in implementing desired measures, however, one can still encounter street rioting stemming from the history of Northern Irish conflict. The Master thesis conducts a survey of the situation after the crucial signing of Belfast Peace Accord. It aims to evaluate the rate of success of introduced post-conflict reconstruction and holds the opinion that the progress in social sphere is especially significant, meaning cross-community relations and mutual respect. Gradually, in three chapters, the thesis unveils the theoretical concept of post-conflict reconstruction with a special attention to social sphere and culture. Moreover, it refers to the milestones of history and comes to the conclusion where it evaluates the current situation in society in disputed areas. Main idea of the thesis is to assess the hypothesis if the adopted measures do have an effect on current development and if a change in society could influence the perception of the roots of the conflict mainly in the question of interpersonal relations.

This diploma thesis deals with investment incentives and their effect on the economy of Ireland in historical and contemporary context. The introduction focuses on the general issue of foreign direct investment and investment incentives. After the summary of geographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the state the work describes an economic development of Ireland from 17 century to the present, especially the important historical events and their influence on the Irish economy. In the main part of this thesis, which is focused on the Irish investment incentives, are listed the general factors of the Irish economy in the form of so-called comparative advantages (high mobility and high skills of workforce, low labor costs) including specific benefits for U.S. investors (culture similarity, no language barrier, favorable geographic location, quality infrastructure) and economic and political measures in the field of direct investment, that Ireland has implemented to attract foreign investors (building of modern telecommunications infrastructure, the international experience of workforce and the establishing of organizations to promote foreign direct investment). Next the work analyses development of investment incentives from the beginning of their application in the 70th of the 20th century through the industrial "boom" in the 90th of the 20th century to the present, focusing on those of them that were key for the development of the Irish economy (taxes on income, efficient infrastructure, a flexible labor market, etc.). Consequently, there is a given forecast of Ireland in the coming years. There is evaluated the impact of investment incentives on the development of the Irish economy and outlined the direction in which the incentives in Ireland will take in the near future.

This work analysis chosen aspects of financial and economical crisis in the EU. Then it aims to analyse the possible solutions of debt problems of Greece, Ireland and Portugal and finally this work offers possible solutions of debt crisis and impact on the EU.

En 1983, alors que les sociétés modernes occidentales s'ouvrent à une libéralisation des lois sur l'avortement, l'Irlande prend le chemin inverse en adoptant le huitième amendement défendant la vie de l'« enfant à naître », amendement conditionné par la doctrine catholique. Nous interprétons cette situation comme un blocage et cherchons à y donner un sens par la mise en perspective du débat en regard du processus de sécularisation dont nous apprécions l'avancée. La question de l'avortement est utilisée ici comme un moyen d'observation privilégié de ce processus à l'échelle individuelle d'une part, et à l'échelle institutionnelle (la relation Église-État) d'autre part. Mais le débat ne se limite pas aux frontières de l'Irlande et s'exporte à l'échelle européenne. L'exception irlandaise sur cette question au sein de l'UE prend une tournure identitaire, une identité ancrée dans le catholicisme, dès lors que la protection de la « vie à naître » est défendue en dehors des frontières, ce qui fut le cas lors de la ratification des traités européens de Maastricht et de Lisbonne. Nous analysons l'attitude de l'Europe sur le droit à la vie tel qu'il est garanti par la Convention européenne des droits de l'homme. Bien qu'elle n'ait pas tranché la question entre le droit à la vie de l'« enfant à naître » ou le droit de la femme à choisir l'avortement, l'Europe pourrait bien être un cheval de Troie car elle est largement favorable aux droits de la femme et à sa santé reproductive, et l'Union ne se prévaut d'aucune confession. / As western modern societies have gradually liberalised their abortion laws, Ireland took the opposite way by adopting the eighth amendment vindicating the right to life of the “unborn” in 1983, an amendment clearly influenced by the prevailing Catholic ethos. The aim of this research is to give sense to this landmark event which we interpret as a moral blocking. To this end, we put the debate in perspective within the secularisation process, the advance of which we propose to assess. The abortion issue is encompassed here as a privileged tool to assess this process both at the individual and institutional level (Church-State relationship) levels. However, the debate is not confined to Ireland and occasionally takes a European dimension. Indeed, the Irish position on abortion is an exception within the EU and has developed as a symbol of the country's Catholic identity when defending its values on unborn human life on the European stage as occurred during the ratification processes of the Maastricht and Lisbon treaties. We analyse Europe's approach to the right to life as guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights in relation to the Irish context. Although Europe does not privilege the “unborn's” right to life over the woman's right to choose and vice versa, it might be a Trojan Horse as European institutions are generally in favour of women's rights and reproductive health, and the EU resisted pressure from the Vatican to have any Christian religious denomination engraved in its constitution.

O recente processo de convergência econômica de Irlanda e Portugal para os níveis dos países industrializados da Europa Ocidental, é um interessante caso de estudo sobre os principais fatores causadores do crescimento econômico, os motivadores do sucesso de certos países em relação a outros, principalmente quando se observa que, a partir do novo milênio, Portugal não vem sendo bem sucedido em tentar manter o processo de convergência, ao contrário da Irlanda, que inclusive, superou os níveis de renda per capita de países como Alemanha, França e Reino Unido. O estudo se mostra interessante também, por compreender duas nações que apresentaram taxas de crescimento do PIB e do PIB per capita após se integrarem à União Européia, apesar de terem ocorrido grandes diferenças entre os dois países no aproveitamento de seus ingressos à comunidade econômica. / The early process of economic convergence of Ireland and Portugal to the industrialized contries´ levels is an interest case about the economic growth factors and the reasons for the success of some contries instead anothers, mainly when can be observed that Portugal, after new millenium, couldn´t maintain the convergence process. Ireland, on the other hand, exceed the levels of income per capita of coutries like Germany, France and United Kingdom. The another reason for the interest of this study is because the period of convergence occurred after the junction of the both countries to the European Union, although the differences between the two countries in the exploitation of the economic community.