When campaigning finally begins in earnest for the next General Election, debates around criminal justice, policing and prisons will dominate. A key talking point for Fine Gael candidates will be the delivery of an additional 1,100 prison spaces in the six years up to 2030. With Fine Gael holding the Justice portfolio for over 13… Read more »
The reason we gathered was to demand the full implementation of the Dublin Transport Plan, that has been developed over years by expert engineers and city officials. It has been subject to extensive public consultation. It has been voted on twice by the elected representatives of the city. And it is being held up because the CEO of the Council has capitulated to a small group of business leaders, who have the backing of a junior minister who, new to the job, is quickly exploring just how far she can reach.
Dublin city centre is unusually congested. It is estimated that the extent of traffic in the capital costs hundreds of millions of euros a year in lost productivity. For these very practical reasons, the city council has committed to a new transport plan. Initially will involve a couple of hundred metres of bus gates and… Read more »
Where other laws and protections have failed, there is hope that the EU Nature Restoration Law will succeed. It is the first continent-wide, comprehensive law of its kind. It aims to ensure that 20% of EU’s land and sea are protected by 2030 with all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. The scale of this ambition means that European-wide restoration work will make a significant difference to the overall health of Europe’s biodiversity.
We were delighted to have welcomed Professor Brian Brock to speak at our annual lecture this year!
I have spent a lot of time in the last month reading and re-reading an odd, short book in the Hebrew Scriptures. Ruth is just 85 verses long, spread over 4 chapters. On the surface it tells a fable so familiar, Netflix could adapt it and market it as a rom-com – it’s a story… Read more »
A certain sector of the Irish population seems to strongly dislike David McWilliams. He is often the butt of jokes where something mean appears to have replaced something witty in the punchline. He’s like our answer to Malcolm Gladwell, someone with a prominent platform that seeks to make complicated things simple, even if that runs… Read more »
Laudato Si’ was published 9 years ago this week. “Laudato Si’ Week” began as a way to celebrate the first anniversary of the publication – a groundbreaking appeal for environmental care as a justice and devotional issue – and the tradition has been maintained since. This year, the event coincides with Biodiversity Week and focuses… Read more »
It is National Bike Week and the transport news is dominated by escooters. On Monday next, they finally become legal in Ireland, albeit with a range of restrictions that would never be countenanced for motor vehicles. The five kg of an escooter seems to elicit more fear in the Road Safety Authority than the two-thousand… Read more »
Last weekend, students from Trinity College, Dublin blockaded the library where the Book of Kells is on display and established an encampment of tents on the lawn in front of the Arts block. They were protesting the fact that the university has investments in three firms that are blacklisted by the UN for their involvement… Read more »
Last week stands out in one’s mind as significant in terms of safety and active transport. On the 24th of April, a 22-year-old student studying in Dun Laoghaire was knocked down and killed by a truck. She will be remembered as “the kindest, gentlest” daughter and “a blessing” in the life of her friends and partner. She… Read more »
A World Worthy of Enjoyment The acclaimed American novelist, Marilynne Robinson, has published a most unusual book – a commentary on the book of Genesis. Robinson is acclaimed for her touching and profound novels. But over the last few decades, has also written a series of outstanding essay collections. Here, no less than in her… Read more »
Rhetoric will inevitably increase as a “tough on crime” arms race will ensue between the three largest parties, with Independents upping the ante from local townhall meetings. At the very least, politicians need to stop identifying population growth as a predictor of future prison capacity. Maybe, instead of motioning to the public that their hands are tied, an honest response is that they want to put more people in prison for longer.
While for most people, the holiday ended with the finishing of the last bit of chocolate egg, this is the first week of Easter. Last Friday, Christians around the world remembered the crucifixion of Jesus, son of Mary. And on Sunday, they gathered across the globe to celebrate his Resurrection. Technically, the celebration continues for 50… Read more »
A guest post from a friend of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, Toni Pyke. Toni will be joining many from the Jesuit communities and wider afield for a peace pilgrimage of prayer and solidarity, walking from Milltown to the St Francis Xavier church on Gardiner Street Upper on Wednesday March 27, starting at… Read more »
A new community garden is opening in Clongowes Wood College. In time this project will yield not only a food harvest but a creative space where hands and minds can gather to create wonderful communities which thrive. In time, food may only be a by-product of the relationships and community which is formed.
This article, by Fr Peter McVerry SJ, originally appeared Reality magazine in 2016. Eight years on and it is as relevant as it ever was. This week Ireland was told to shore up corporate tax laws to prevent wealthy from committing tax fraud and evasion. At the same time, we are rapidly expanding our prison… Read more »
At a recent meeting with Jesuits I was asked a great question: If you could only save three passages of Scripture, which would you select? I walked around Dublin after this conversation, mulling over different texts. I know most people these days have only a vague knowledge of the bible. But one of the great… Read more »
Land use requires a juggling act of different needs. Offices, housing, parking, green space, retail, transport and schools all vie for the same spaces.
Environmental politics are heating up. Over the last year, we have observed a backlash to the “Green wave” across the continent. Whether it is farmers in the Netherlands or France or coal workers in Poland, long-forgotten pop stars in the UK, or Irish aviation billionaires, there are increasing signals that large numbers of citizens are… Read more »
The conceptual heart of Pope Francis’ groundbreaking environmental manifesto, Laudato Si’, is his idea of integral ecology (§139): We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental. Environmentalism can never be reduced to some idea of “nature” but it… Read more »
Fast forward five years, what are the CPT likely to find in relation to overcrowding when they visit Ireland later in 2024? In April last year, there were almost 200 prisoners on mattresses on floors, five times what the CPT experts found in 2019. During the summer, the Inspector of Prisons wrote specifically to the Minister for Justice in relation to these “degrading conditions” as mattresses were adjacent to toilets. By any criteria of inspection, the experience of imprisonment by many will have greatly deteriorated in the interim period.
Introduction We are in the middle of multiple crises. The lives lost and absolute devastation caused by senseless wars in Gaza and Ukraine, as well as the increasing hostilities towards those seeking refuge in our country, can leave one feeling numb. When so many lives are lost, when there is so much anger and resentment,… Read more »
Becoming Someone’s “Hate-Watch” Many of us are familiar with the habit we can fall into of spending time on things that we hate. For whatever evolutionary reason, we are drawn to things that generate a strong reaction in us and so while there is nothing better than sitting down to read the new book from… Read more »
On Sunday, the Ross Lake House Hotel in Rosscahill was burned down. This was an act of callous and brutal savagery. The empty hotel was due to become a refuge to dozens of people who badly needed it. This was not an accident. It was a crime born in craven fear. It is one of… 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.
