Social Justice Matters

In this episode, Colette Bennett welcomes back Keith Adams, Penal Policy Advocate in Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice and Doctoral candidate at Leuven Institute of Criminology. It will come as no surprise that we're talking all things prisons - the latest scandals, the unpublished reports, and what really needs to be done if the criminal justice system is to work effectively.  If you want to le...

Social Justice Ireland is a member of the Roundtable on Migration in Our Common Home, a collective of organisations and individuals concerned about the shape of migration policy in Ireland and internationally. To date, three papers have been published which you can access below. Colette Bennett is one of Social Justice Ireland's representatives at the Roundtable and chats with Susanne Rogers about...

We launched our socio-economic review for 2023 on Monday, 8th May 2023. This annual publication is where we present a detailed analysis of a range of key matters which are central to social justice; a vision of Ireland’s future as a just and sustainable society; and a policy framework to move consistently and coherently towards that society.  In this episode, you can listen back to the presentatio...

Michelle Murphy talks to Dr Anthony Soares, Director of the Centre for Cross Border Studies about the Good Friday Agreement, the work of the centre and explores challenges to and opportunities for cross border cooperation.

Tomorrow, April 21st 2023, marks Ireland's Country Overshoot Day. To explain what that means and  Earth Overshoot Day,  Dr. Alessandro Galli, Senior Scientist and Director of the Mediterranean-MENA Program with the Global Footprint Network chats with Susanne Rogers about how this date is worked out, Ireland's country date and some of their policy proposals to help ensure we #movethedate.   Find yo...

In this episode of our 10 Minute Lessons series, Research and Policy Analyst, Susanne Rogers looks at lobbying in Ireland. Find out more information and see what your obligations may be at Lobbying.ie . 

Carrie Exton is the Acting Senior Counsellor and Deputy Director at the OECD Centre for Well-Being, Inclusion, Sustainability and Equal Opportunity (WISE). Her team helps to build the evidence base for WISE policy-making, including the development of frameworks and indicators, and their roles in supporting government decisions.  Carrie spoke at the Social Justice Ireland Annual Social Policy Confe...

Plain Numbers is a UK based organisation working with firms to support their customers who struggle with numbers. Their founder Mike Ellicock is a social entrepreneur focused on running organisations that support people who struggle with numbers and data. He launched National Numeracy as founding Chief Executive in 2012, building the organisation from little more than an idea to become a well-resp...

Following on from last week's 10 minute lesson, analysts with Social Justice Ireland, Michelle Murphy, Colette Bennett and Susanne Rogers unpack the numbers contained in the Survey on Income and Living Conditions 2022. The conversation touches on the cohorts most at risk, what impacts poverty and deprivation have on those cohorts and the policy proposals made by Social Justice Ireland  that Govern...

On the 22nd February 2023, the Central Statistics Office released the results of the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) 2022. These data provide the most up to date information on income, poverty, and living conditions across a range of different households in Ireland.    In this episode of our 10 Minute Lessons series, Economic and Social Analyst, Colette Bennett, goes through the numb...

Carrie-Ann Moran is an award-winning Irish social entrepreneur, recognised nationally as a leading voice on circular fashion.  For over 15 years, Carrie Ann has pushed sustainable fashion across the private and third sectors  in Ireland, serving as sustainability manager for multiple small brands, Head of Fashion and Textiles for Rediscovery Centre Ireland, Director of Fashion Revolution Ireland a...

Dr. Stuart Stamp is an Independent Social Researcher and Research Associate of the Department of Applied Social Studies at Maynooth University. His main areas of interest are personal overindebtedness and financial exclusion from an inequality and human rights perspective.  Paul Joyce, BL, works as Senior Policy Analyst with Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC). He is the author of both of FLAC major...

Alternative facts, fake news and conspiracies - why does there seem to be more of it about? What's the difference between mis-information and dis-information? Are there reasons some of us are more likely to believe the hype than others? And when it comes to dangerous dis-information - what can policymakers do to combat it? In this week's episode, Colette Bennett chats with Dr. Daniel Jolley, an As...

Sarah Barrington is an engineer, Data Scientist and graduate researcher at the UC Berkeley School of Information. Her research interests span across computer vision, artificial intelligence, decentralized technologies and digital forensics. She graduated from Cambridge University with First Class Honors in General & Manufacturing Engineering (BA, MEng, MA), before working at McLaren Applied as an...

Dr. Larry O’Connell is the Director of the National Economic and Social Council (NESC), and Chief Officer of the National Economic and Social Development Office (NESDO). As senior economist in NESC, since 2007, he worked on a range of policy areas including Ireland’s transition to low-carbon and digital future; housing and land; climate change and sustainable development; higher education funding;...

Gabriel Makhlouf is the Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, taking up that position on 1 September 2019. He chairs the Central Bank Commission, is a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, a member of the European Systemic Risk Board, and is Ireland's Alternate Governor at the International Monetary Fund.  Before joining the Central Bank Gabriel was Secretary to the New...

Michelle Murphy talks to Clare O’Connor, Energy Policy Officer with Friends of the Earth about climate change, climate action, protecting the vulnerable and COP27.

At the end of October 2022, the Living Wage Technical Group launched the Living Wage of €13.85 for 2022/2023. The Living Wage is a wage which makes possible a minimum acceptable standard of living and is evidence based and grounded in social consensus. Two members of the group, Robert Thornton, Research Manager at Vincentian MESL Research Centre and Ciarán Nugent, Economist at the Nevin Economic R...

Kathleen Moran is Chairperson of the School Libraries Group of the Library Association of Ireland to talk about school libraries in Ireland.  She chats to Michelle Murphy about the importance of school libraries and school librarians, and what needs to be done to ensure every child and young person in Ireland has access to a fully staffed school library.

Hugh Frazer is an expert on European policies to combat poverty and social exclusion, especially child poverty. He played a lead role in the feasibility studies that contributed to the establishment of the European Child Guarantee.  He has acted as adviser to a wide range of national and European organisations ( ESN, Eurochild, EAPN and UNICEF). He is a former coordinator of the European Social Po...

Barbara Nolan is Head of the European Commission Representation in Ireland.  She chats to Michelle Murphy about the State of the European Union Address 2022, what the main themes were in this year’s address and what they mean for policy direction in the European Union and in Ireland. 

Stuart Hamilton is the Head of Libraries Development for the Local Government Management Agency. He is the national advisor on libraries in the local government sector and leads the strategic development and implementation of service innovation and change management.  He chats with Susanne Rogers about the importance of libraries to communities across the country, how they adapted to the pandemic,...

Budget 2023 is just around the corner. In the latest episode of our Ten Minute Lessons series, we talk about what the Budget is, we bring you through the Budget process, when you might expect to feel the impact of the Budget and how you can advocate for change.  Our Budget Choices 2023 Policy Briefing can be found HERE .  We are delighted that Social Justice Matters has been recognised by FeedSpot...

To mark United Nations International Day of Democracy, Paul Gordon chats with Susanne Rogers about the Vote at 16 campaign . Paul is Director of Policy and Advocacy with the National Youth Council of Ireland. We chat about the reasoning behind the campaign, experiences in other jurisdictions, the movement in Ireland and next steps.  

Aisling O'Hara is Service Manager for Youth Services & Community Based Housing with Galway Simon Community.  Galway Simon Community provide support and accommodation services to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in the West of Ireland. Aisling chats with Susanne Rogers about youth homelessness, the impacts on young people, the care and resources required and ideally what needs to...