A timely Inspector of Prisons’ Annual Report, published by the Department on Friday, provides much which should form the basis of such a debate on the future of our prison system. Here are what we in the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice consider the main points of interest in the report.
With the emergence of multiple vaccines, Ireland is in a very different position today compared with five months ago, when we entered into the highest level of lockdown just after Christmas. Yesterday, the Minister for Health announced that more than half of the adult population had received their first dose of a vaccine, with over… Read more »
If you consider yourself a climate justice advocate, then it is also impossible to be ambivalent towards the destructive nature of war. It is a simple fact that suffering of the most vulnerable people is an injustice, whether as a result of climate change or armed conflict.
“The only thing I request is to consider interim bail. I have been in deteriorating condition. I would rather be in Ranchi with my friends. Whatever happens to me, I would like to be with my own. I do not think any of that [hospitalisation] is going to help.”
A decade into the most recent Irish housing affordability and homelessness crisis, few adjectives or perojatives have not be used. We want to propose a new word for describing these events: apocalyptic.
What would a Just Transition mean for Ireland?
This workshop, which is the last in the Stop Climate Chaos Climate Action Plan Consultation Workshop Series takes an in-depth look at Just Transition, to help to inform your submission to the Government’s Climate Action Plan Consultation.
Social theologian and Director of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice Kevin Hargaden told Ruadhán Jones of The Irish Catholic that the “homelessness catastrophe, which has plateaued largely because of the eviction ban,will now almost certainly jump – unless there’s a mass intervention on rent arrears”.
Today, April 26th is Stan Swamy’s 84th birthday. Help us to raise awareness of his unjust detention in an Indian jail. #StandWithStan
Following a 10-day “grace period” after the blanket eviction ban ends today, April 23rd is the date when evictions can resume in the private rental sector.
Those few women left around the cross were the followers who were so marginalised, it was debatable whether their culture saw them as human. The story spread across the known world so rapidly because it won the favour of slaves and women.
In the middle of the largest public health crisis in living memory, it is a curious situation to find a Minister for Health closing a vaccination centre. But there was little if any protest when Stephen Donnelly suspended operations at the Beacon Hospital in south Dublin last week.
The most ambitious Irish commitment to emissions reduction to date, simultaneously falls short in committing us to doing our fair share in dealing with the climate crisis.
Less than three weeks into the nesting season, which is legally closed for gorse clearing, and Ireland has already experienced several serious incidences of wildfires in hills around the country. While the smoke may have cleared from the wild fires which ravaged the hills around Kerry, Laois and Wicklow the ecological devastation will remain for years.
We can see that the claims that landlords are fleeing the Irish housing market is false. There is no grand exodus. And the stable numbers of landlords have less debt and more revenue than they have had in the past.
Kevin Hargaden reviews Seán McDonagh’s new book ‘Robots, Ethics and the Future of Jobs’, which explores the impact of automation, robotics, artificial intelligence and 3D printing on society and the economy.
To address the problem of homelessness, we obviously need to understand the causes and nature of it. Unfortunately, there are some myths about homelessness, even amongst decision-makers, which prevents the problem from being resolved, says Peter McVerry SJ.
This blog post is the final of a three part series on policy-making as storytelling. In this week’s piece, Keith Adams considers how to make further sense of the stories around homelessness by looking at the sources of the housing which families enter into as they exit homelessness and how we can end homelessness.
In the second of our three-part series on Policy-making as Storytelling, Keith Adams continues to analyse the Quarterly Homeless Progress Reports to see who remains in emergency accommodation, and for how long? In next week’s final piece, we will look at how we can prevent homelessness.
This blog post is the first of a three part series by the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice on policy-making as storytelling. Using the Quarterly Homeless Progress Reports, this series will consider the stories which are central to homeless policy in Ireland and if other stories exist. This post will focus on exits from homelessness with the second post next week reflecting on families prevented from entering homelessness. Duration of stay in emergency accommodation will be the focus of the third blog post and round off the series.
Environmentalism is one of the few substantial ideologies left standing in Western politics. Environmentalists believe in something more than mere utility. CETA is an excellent opportunity not to “play senior hurling” but to testify to the fact that another, better world is possible. It should be rejected wholesale and replaced with a framework fit for the 21st century.
Into the hole they poured all their surplus money and when the money filled the hole, a door slid open at the bottom and the money drained out. The people cheered when this happened because this proved they were the most efficient and productive and hardworking people. This truly was the best little country in the world to dig a hole.
“I want to make a simple proposal that if our judges were more aware of the prison environment, to have walked the tiled floors or listened to the experiences of those they may have imprisoned first-hand, the numbers in pre-trial custody would reduce.” Peter McVerry SJ
Economics and policy, a marriage made in the public, political and societal eye – is one that not even debt can tear apart. The two are inextricable , and the power dynamic within their relationship is an important one to consider. When fiscal priorities are the parameters that frame policies, the results may not… Read more »
In early 1998, Tony Blair, then UK Prime Minister, addressed the French National Assembly. In fluent French, he described the political ethos shaping New Labour and, more broadly, Third Way politics, as “an attempt to make realistic sense of the modern world. It is a world in which love of ideals is essential but… Read more »
At the start of last year, we in the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice looked forward to 2020. We were full of anticipation of progress on environmental issues, saw signs of hope in the growing divestment from fossil fuels movement and were able to celebrate the Irish Government’s participation in that process. What… Read more »
Working Notes is a journal published by the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice. The journal focuses on social, economic and theological analysis of Irish society. It has been produced since 1987.
