Farming is a vital part of our economy and society, but in its current form it does not work on many levels. By its nature, farming exists within ecological systems. It is both dependent on ecological services (for example biological pollination, provision of clean water and nutrient cycling) and impacts upon the ecosystems in which it exists.

Nobody in a wealthy country should face poverty in their last years simply because they have not managed to buy property. We need to pressure this Government to deliver a viable housing alternative that will benefit people who are not interested in gaining an ‘asset’, but simply want a home.

It was a demoralising, destructive and dehumanising experience, with no redeeming features, characterised by idleness and boredom. Some politicians and tabloid media believed the regime was not sufficiently harsh to deter them from committing further crime on release. One young person there summed it up very succinctly when he said: “This place brings out the worst in you.” 

What linked all of the presentations was the theme that the Irish housing and homelessness crisis not only could have been averted but can also be solved. All that is missing from the Irish context and present in Finland, for example, is the political will to do so.

When the Minister for Justice said that “six prisoners were required to be released immediately,” this is either unintentionally erroneous or misleading. These six were not prisoners by definition. Yes, they were in prison but their legal status was profoundly different from that of a prisoner. The sentence they received had been served, they were free people who were being detained in prison with no legal basis or grounding. Their sentences had expired. Something as important as the calculation of released should have safeguards with as many checks as is needed to ensure that a person is guaranteed their correct day of release.

All of the speakers in different ways clearly articulated what it is they think accountability means. Specifically, at this protest, they called for the long-promised but never delivered, Traveller-led strategy to address the mental health crisis. Initiatives from within the community are not enough on their own when faced with the kind of intersecting challenges that afflict Traveller communities.

The earthquake of destruction that the invasion of Ukraine triggered has reverberated with a series of aftershocks for the global economy as grain shortages and threats to energy sources make an impact on our previous stability.

Cycling offers the most cost-effective mode of transport in the neighbourhoods where most people in Ireland live. It has associated benefits for local business, public health, and personal wellbeing.

  Two weeks ago, I wrote about how the decision of the Department of Justice to not publish two Dóchas Centre reports undermines its stated commitment to combat violence against women. The stated justification was that the Minister was acting on legal counsel sought by her Department. We know a little more about the serious… Read more »

If reports into conduct within a closed institution for women deemed worthy of investigation are mothballed on a shelf due to “legal advice,” than an accompanying explanation must also be forthcoming. Are there ongoing criminal investigations based on the report? Are there security risks to the safe custody of the women in the Dóchas Centre? An allusion to legal advice is not sufficient when the stakes are so high.

This time the social housing prototype that is being implemented half-heartedly in Ireland is cost rental housing. The ‘Vienna Model’ is considered the blueprint for public housing that is affordable, high-quality and desirable and – even though Dublin City Council hosted an exhibition about it in 2019 – to date its implementation here bears only a faint resemblance to the original. This failure to fully embrace the vision is unlikely to result in success.

The language differs, with the IPCC referencing integrated planning, systems thinking, and cross-sectoral perspectives as well as social dimensions, but the fundamental similarities to integral ecology are plainly visible.

‘We are first of all, not doers of the common good, but receivers of the common good. And then co-creators and participants within an active process in history. We are witnesses to that good. And in a suffering world, we are those called to lament, to rage and to struggle for the victory of that life.’

The vast majority of women are imprisoned for non-violent property crimes and the judiciary will likely continue in its paternalistic vein of either giving the women a “short, sharp shock” or an opportunity to have an assessment and receive treatment. As such, regardless of the meritous developments within the new Limerick prison block, the end result is likely an intensification of this carceral paternalism of poor women and Traveller women.

We have to develop an integrated and holistic perspective. If we help people to reconnect to nature, to their own body, to their own feelings, then they will see how the quality of relationships is important and has to be promoted at all levels. With this change of perspective, people will understand that the “one health” is linked with environmental, animal, and human health.

The electric car is not a solution to our environmental problems, it is a solution to the motor industry’s problem.

The lecture takes place on Thursday March 24th at 7pm at the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice in Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin. It is a free event but registration is necessary.

While security and compassion will always be in tension in a carceral environment, little evidence exists to demonstrate an equal footing.

The recent escalation in military activity along the Ukraine border highlights the particular ways in which war particularly interacts with energy. A lot of wars, in one way or another, are related to access to energy, particularly fossil fuels.

What does it take to make the mental leap to put ourselves in a homeless person’s shoes? To see that it’s the same problem – ‘decent, hardworking’ people are becoming homeless because rents are too high and they can’t even think about buying a home or saving for a deposit.

My life has been so enriched by cycling as a way of getting things done that I cannot help but encourage others to try it for themselves. But while I was excited to hear that my friend had a new job and also to hear he might join the thousands of people who have discovered the joy of getting to work on a bike, I was also worried. What if he and his little boy were in an accident one day? The reality is that commuting by bike – in Ireland – is taking a risk.

Now that we have observed the trend of the seasonal decrease for five years (2017-2021), we know that the drop in homelessness that occurs each December is an aberration, not a cause for optimism. We have to dig deeper into the available data to account for it, and to solve the conundrum of the strong rebound in homelessness which inevitably follows it in January.

What seemed like common sense in 1960s Dublin would be viewed as madness today. Yet an obsession with the car continues to have a hold on the imagination of certain sections of the Irish electorate and with our city planners.

Next Thursday, November 25th, at 12:30pm Dublin time, JCFJ is proud to host Dr Taido Chino for a conversation about racism and Christianity. Dr Chino, who teaches at Augustana College in Illinois, will explore not just the problem of racism, but the ways in which our spiritual convictions can help us to make a meaningful… Read more »

Squatting may be a crime, but the Christian tradition speaks with one voice: vacancy is a sin.