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Policy Issues Home

A wide range of material on many policy issues is available on this page.  This includes both material and commentary from Social Justice Ireland and material from other sources.  The policy issues are listed alphabetically in the menu on this page.

The real cost of ‘reprofiling’ capital funds

28th January 2019

The cost of the new National Children’s Hospital which has almost doubled in four years will have significant knock on effects on the rest of the health service. Who is ultimately going to pay for the cost overruns?

Time to put the Sustainability and the Environment at the heart of policy

24th January 2019

 

“What we do in the next few years will profoundly affect the next few thousand years” - David Attenborough, Davos, 2019

The profound negative effects of homelessness on children are laid bare in report

22nd January 2019

Homelessness influences every facet of a child’s life from conception to young adulthood and the experience of homelessness inhibits the physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and behavioural development of children.

It’s time to honour a 100-year-old pledge

21st January 2019

On the centenary of the first meeting of Dáil Éireann, it is time to reflect on the commitment made by the Irish Government to the children of Ireland.

A Universal State Pension would ensure fairness for Carers

17th January 2019

Society should reward people who have spent their lives in caring roles, but the current State Pension system deprives them of security in their old age. As the rollout of the Government’s Roadmap for Pensions Reform continues, an opportunity to increase the fairness of the Irish pension system is being missed, and at a substantial financial cost.

Homelessness is NOT normal

9th January 2019

Recent commentary that homelessness in Ireland is ‘normal’ is completely without foundation.  As the economy has continued to improve, the homelessness and housing crises have worsened.  Family and child homelessness have increased by over 320 per cent since 2014.  This is not normal, this demands an emergency response.

Refundable Tax Credits needed to help the working poor

8th January 2019

Specific interventions are required to tackle the problem of in-work poverty. Until Government makes tax credits refundable, it will not have an efficient mechanism by which it can address the issue of the working poor.

More than 760,000 people are living in poverty in Ireland, of which over 230,000 are children.

17th December 2018

More than 760,000 people are living in poverty in Ireland, of which over 230,000 are children, despite some small improvements in poverty and deprivation rates.  These are the figures released today by the CSO from the annual Survey on Income and Living Conditions.

Government policy failing to tackle causes - National Social Monitor Winter Edition

3rd December 2018

700,000 on healthcare waiting lists, 500,000 homes without broadband, over 11,000 people homeless – a result of Government policy failing to tackle causes - Social Justice Ireland publishes National Social Monitor Winter 2018.

New Programme for Government must address rampant inequalities in Irish society

16th November 2018

Social Justice Ireland publishes a proposed Programme for Government as part of their 31st Annual Policy Conference in Croke Park.

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