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.

Much complexity has been added to the day-to-day working of Irish prisons over the past 20 months; ranging from necessary health protocols to ever-increasing restrictive regimes by way of serious technological upgrades, but it may be more helpful to reflect on the initial decarceral instinct of policymakers.

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.

Travelling to COP was a worthwhile experience. Participating in the different aspects of it, the pilgrimage to Glasgow, the climate justice march and the Blue Zone offered different experiences and I come away with a slightly better knowledge of the mechanisms behind these international dialogues.

I don’t think the importance of bogs for climate action, especially in Ireland, can be overestimated.