Joe Larragy

Dr Joe Larragy, Lecturer in Social Policy, He is PhD programme co-ordinator in Applied Social Studies and  Social Policy subject leader. He studied Economics and Sociology in Trinity College Dublin, and graduated with BA Mod (Sociology). He has an MA in Social Theory from UCC and a PhD in Social Policy from UCD. His doctoral research was on the Community and Voluntary Pillar in Social Partnership in Ireland 1987-2007.
 
Joe joined the Department of Applied Social Studies in 2001. He previously was Tutor at University of Limerick, Research Officer in the Department of Industrial Relations in UCD, Research Officer at the National Council for the Elderly and Social Policy Analyst at the National Economic and Social Council. Before joining the staff at Maynooth, he was a Newman Scholar at UCD in the Non-Profit Sector.

 
His research interests include Social Policy and Ageing, the Third Sector and Civil Society, volunteering, and state-civil,society relationships. He has worked with several organisations in the statutory and NGO sector in Ireland in research, policy analysis and advisory roles, in particular in ageing related fields.

He represented NUIM on the Board of the County Kildare Leader Partnership Company from October 2011 to December 2013. He is a member of the Academic Council and represents the University in promoting age friendly policies in the region.

In 2012 he founded Maynooth Green Campus, a major initiative that includes climate justice and sustainable practices. As a result of this work, MU has become the first University in Ireland to adopt a fossil free investment policy and is a leader in the University sector in promoting awareness around Climate Change and its social justice implications and in promoting divestment.

Joe Larragy is an active member of the Pensions Policy Research Group, which brings together independent researchers in Ireland. He is a member of the Management Committee of COST Action on Reducing Old-Age Social Exclusion: Collaborations in Research and Policy (ROSENet), which runs from 2016-2019. He has worked with many older people's NGOs providing policy analysis and avice and currently represents Maynooth University on the Meath Age Friendly Alliance.

His publications cover civil society and the state, social partnership in Ireland, ageing policy in Ireland. Among his recent publications is Asymmetric Engagement: The Community and Voluntary Pillar in Irish Social Partnership, published by Manchester University Press in 2014. He also wrote a policy submision on Behalf of Older and Bolder, A Bounty not a Burden, which was influential in shaping the Irish government's national positive ageing strategy.