Irish society has been dramatically reorganised to mitigate the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. The national collective effort has been immense, directed at all times to “flattening the curve” and enabling our stretched medical system a chance to cope with those who are ill. Not since the World War II has Irish society faced… Read more »

  While our thoughts naturally turn to the Spanish Flu pandemic when trying to make sense of Covidtide, remembering the much more recent AIDS epidemic is also essential. More than a generation ago, the Irish moral theologian, Enda McDonagh, wrote an essay about the theological implications of the AIDS epidemic that still resonates today.

  The Covid-19 pandemic is not just a public health crisis, it also highlights and compounds layers of pre-existing social and economic injustices and inequalities that already exist in our society. There have been many analyses of how marginalised individuals and communities are being disproportionally impacted by this pandemic. The injustices of homelessness, direct provision… Read more »

  On March 26th, readers of the Financial Times saw an unexpected obituary. Among the many victims that have already fallen to Covid-19, the go-to source of news for global capitalism declared the end of neoliberalism. So many established facts of life have fallen under the force of the pandemic that many people are openly… Read more »

  The topic of private housing is given extensive and glowing coverage in the colour supplements of Irish newspapers, while the social housing sector is considered a dreary, detail-heavy question of policy. But three books about housing in Ireland which were published last year have revealed social housing to be a topic of fierce contestation.

  Reduction of the remand population is a crucial component of any overarching strategy to reduce prison numbers to a realistic level where the spread of Covid-19 can be delayed and mitigated, says Keith Adams.

  Two years ago,  on the centenary of the Spanish flu pandemic, Kevin Hargaden wrote about the need to address structural injustices  in society and in our health system to prepare for the next global pandemic, and reminded us that Christians have always tended to the sick and marginalised.

  In many ways, the book of Exodus is the cornerstone of the bible. The story of liberation from slavery and the idea that God identifies with the oppressed is the bass-line for Jesus’ ministry. But there was always one part of the narrative that I struggled with, says Kevin Hargaden.

  Last Autumn, the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice published an issue of Working Notes built around the theme of “risk”. Those essays have continued relevance, but none of them mention pandemics. This is not an oversight on our part. We understood risk as a compound concept. It isn’t simply a function of unexpected… Read more »

  We are currently living through two global emergencies. Covid-19, an acute onset crisis, and the climate and biodiversity emergency, which is chronic. Both of these are urgent and require an immediate response.