Articles

27. SJI Ten Minute Lessons Ep7: Site Value Tax, what it is and why it should replace the Local Property Tax

sji podcast logo

The current Local Property Tax system in Ireland is regressive.  It encourages land hoarding and speculation, while dis-incentivising necessary development, such as building more…

Dealing with the diverse issues raised in the Local and European elections

eu participation

Above is an outline of Social Justice Ireland's policy framework for a just Ireland which we believe provides a mechanism to address differing issues and challenges…

Time for Government to support a Financial Transactions Tax

Fair taxation

As the international economic chaos of the past few years has shown, the world is now increasingly linked via millions of legitimate, speculative and opportunistic financial transactions.…

Almost 400,000 people experience fuel deprivation while Ireland is among top 5 for energy price hikes

The latest release from Eurostat (21st May 2019) shows that Ireland had the highest increase in gas prices, and the fifth highest increase in electricity prices in the EU.  According to the…

Protecting nature and biodiversity must be at the heart of the All of Government Climate Plan

Earth on Fire

Nature and biodiversity are our common heritage and provide the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide.  If we are really serious…

Time for proper scrutiny and evaluation of Ireland's costly tax expenditures

tax push li

Tax reliefs - or tax expenditures, as they are sometimes known - are policy tools for reducing an individual's tax liability. They are usually used to encourage specific economic or social…

Rents and Subsidies continue to rise, but still no security for tenants

housingoutofreach

According to the Report, asking rents have increased, quarter on quarter, for the last 27 quarters.  That’s almost 6 years of growth.  The Report uses an average of rents in 2012 as a…

Local government has the potential to transform our communities – time to harness this potential and deliver more power locally

If we want to develop appropriate, flexible and place-based responses to local and regional issues, then we must maximise the potential of local government. This requires giving local government…

Every person should have a genuine voice in shaping the decisions that affect them

representation

Recent international political events points to a public who feel alienated from the political classes and democracy generally.  It has been suggested (Antonucci, 2017; Dauderstadt, 2017)…

Consultation on the National Social Enterprise Policy - Social Justice Ireland's submission

Social Justice Ireland has been advocating in respect of social enterprises for some time and welcome progression of a specific policy to support them.  However, this policy must be…