Charles O'Sullivan, a PhD candidate with the Department of Law under the supervision of Dr Cliodhna Murphy, successfully defended his doctoral thesis today. The thesis was examined by Prof Michael Doherty and Prof Gráinne McKeever (Ulster University) and is entitled "Migrant Access to Welfare Payments in Ireland and the Impact of Europeanisation: Comparing EU citizens and Third-Country National Labour Migrants." It examines how welfare payments are provided in Ireland for two categories of migrants: mobile European Union citizens; and third-country national labour migrants; the barriers that restrict their access to the welfare system, and the extent to which the process of ‘Europeanisation’ has affected welfare provision in Ireland for both. It utilises a socio-legal method of analysis, which includes theoretical, doctrinal and non-legal strands.
Charles is currently a Lecturer in Law at the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University, teaching and researching primarily in areas of EU law and Irish law