Mother and Child: Maternity and Child Welfare in Dublin, 1922-60

Irish women, as actual or potential mothers, were frequently the direct or indirect targets of much debate and welfare legislation during the first half of the twentieth century. Considerable research has been carried out in relation to welfare development and the centrality of maternal welfare in often Western European countries. This book provides an analysis of maternity policy and provision in Dublin thus adding the history of Ireland’s maternal welfare to the growing corpus of international research on the topic. It also places maternity and child welfare in the context of twentieth century Irish history offering one of the only accounts of how women and children were viewed, treated and used by key lobby groups in Irish society and by the Irish state. This book re-evaluates the role of various lobby groups in the formation of welfare policy and reveals a much more complex relationship between church, state, the medical profession, voluntary groups and mothers. It also provides fascinating insights into central personalities in modern Irish history such as Eamon de Valena and John Charles McQuaid. As such it makes a valuable contribution to Irish social, political, medical and gender history.