It is important to ask why a request to vaccinate prisoners in the early stages of the programme is met with vehemence and opposition. The force of emotion expressed reflects something of our punitive instinct around justice and this particular instance exposes how in the end, that desire is self-destructive.
On Saturday 21st November, the ACRE Project came together to construct a Bug Hotel in the grounds of its community house in Mullacreevie Park, Co. Armagh.
Trade agreements are difficult things to discuss because they require such specialised knowledge and attention to detail. But they have such an impact on our economy and society that we must be alert to what they contain.
Perhaps the EPA report, which is unrelenting in its assessment, is the catalyst we need to become painfully aware of what is happening in our country as well as for a plan we can follow to change our collective habits.
Amongst the news of the US election and of potential vaccines that will hopefully help end this twilight zone of social distancing we must not be deaf to the continuing reality of the climate and biodiversity emergency. Hurricanes, wildfires, and bog slippage , which are all part of the complex story of climate change… Read more »
The first step in this direction is acting on the promises made in the Programme for Government and definitively closing off all avenues of fracking importation and fossil fuel exploration in Ireland.
In an echo of the call we make to politicians here in Ireland to amend the Climate Bill, we now call on our MEPs and demand that they vote for an improved Common Agricultural Policy.
Stan Swamy SJ is an 83-year-old Jesuit and human rights defender in India who has been arrested on false charges of involvement with extremist groups. We demand his release.
Keith Adams considers, from a sociological and theological perspective, what it means for the terminally-ill to die in prison.
Fratelli Tutti unpacks what this means: the nation state must be relativised and the natural right of migration must be recognised, global orders of law, especially dedicated towards the preservation of fundamental human rights must be established, private property must be exposed as a delusion and relegated to its proper place as a secondary right, derived from the inescapable fact that every good thing is a gift that is owed to everyone.
Chaplains are unique, in that they have no agenda other than the welfare of prisoners and prison officers. There is no career path or advancement for chaplains that might compromise how they work. Thus, they are almost universally respected by prisoners who place a high level of trust in them. They will talk to the chaplain about issues in their life, traumas they may have experienced in childhood and their fears for the future. Most prison officers, too, hold the chaplain in high regard and appreciate the work they do.
In the midst of a global pandemic our perception of what is important in the world around us can shift. Foreign holidays pale when compared to the freedom of being able to visit our families, and the appeal of a healthy natural environment gains relevance when we have the opportunity to experience it more.… Read more »
Last weekend, in the middle of a worsening pandemic, a crowd of almost a thousand people marched through the streets of Dublin, protesting at what they saw as illegitimate restrictions on their freedoms. Most of us agree that these “restrictions” are in fact sensible public health procedures and fail to understand how being asked… Read more »
The Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice has made a submission to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine on the ‘Agriculture Appeals (Amendment) Bill 2020’. With this submission we hope to contribute to the to the ongoing discussion of the importance of maintaining and enhancing the ecological integrity of our ecosystems through… Read more »
Last weekend, Irish social media lit up with the sharing of a shocking video. By habit and disposition, I try to avoid clicking on these links. My world is distressing enough as it is at the moment and it is easier to process things when presented in black and white in text. Full colour… Read more »
Imagine if death was somehow suspended, causing people who are close to their demise or severely injured to exist, in a catatonic state? Portuguese author, Jose Saramago posits this scenario in his novel Death with Interruptions. He considers it as a thought experiment, teasing out its potential political, economic, and social ramifications, often with surprising… Read more »
At the end of July, we witnessed a surge in the number of deaths of people who were homeless or in emergency accommodation. Almost daily reports made the loss of life seem endless. In Dublin alone, ten deaths occurred in July – six men and four women – bringing the capital’s total for 2020 so… Read more »
On July 31st 2020, in an historic judgement, the Irish Supreme Court found in favour of Climate Case Ireland, quashing the National Mitigation Plan (NMP), a major component of the State’s climate change policy. Climate Case Ireland’s lawyers successfully argued that this plan was inadequate in terms of reducing our emissions by our fair share.… Read more »
The EU Commission ruled in 2016 that Ireland had illegally offered State aid to Apple in their tax arrangements. Like so many of the multi-national corporations based in Ireland, Apple were never heavily taxed here – paying about 1% of their profits in 2003. But by 2014, that rate had reduced to 0.005%. The… Read more »
The age in which we live is, apparently, one of seismic political shifts. For some, a dangerous popularism is resurgent around the world. Others optimistically spy the end of neoliberal hegemony and the beginning of a new left renaissance. Regardless of where one falls on these questions, two recent books – Chris Arnade’s Dignity… Read more »
This week saw Climate Case Ireland take to the Supreme Court to bring their case against the Irish Government for its failure to take climate action. The central challenge of Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE), a voluntary network of citizens bringing forward the Climate Case on behalf of the people of Ireland (https://www.climatecaseireland.ie/),… Read more »
We have never been so obsessed with experiments. In some sense, our former way of life ostensibly hinges on their success. Reports of the merest success against Covid-19 imbue us with hope. On the periphery of the pandemic, slightly more removed, many unintended social experiments have occurred or are ongoing in Ireland. Typically, social… Read more »
A common lament of those working in the area of prison policy is a lack of information. This has not been one of those weeks. Since the beginning of the week, a number of documents with either a full or partial focus on prisons – the Irish Prison Service Annual Report 2019, a draft Programme… Read more »
The Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice has made a submission to the Youth Justice Strategy 2020-2026 as part of the public consultation phase for the development of the document. We hope to contribute to the development of a fair and effective youth justice system which responds appropriately to children and young people who… Read more »
Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, and the Green Party yesterday published their proposed Programme for Government. 128 days after the General Election, this is the first concrete step towards the formation of a new government. The document – 126 pages long – will now be examined by the members of these political parties and by… 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.
