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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.

Time to accept failure and start rebuilding Ireland’s housing policy

13th February 2019

The most recent Daft.ie Report shows that, while the rate of rent inflation may now be slowing, rents are still higher than they were before the Recession, with the average national rent reaching €1,347 per month.  Rebuilding Ireland, the Government's main housing policy document, relies heavily on the private rented sector as a sort of 'societal cure all', however this reliance (supported through subsidies and tax reliefs) is only serving to drive up rents until they are beyond the reach of many households.  Add to that the Minister's latest directive, that families who turn down more two social housing options will be suspended from the housing list for five years, and we clearly have a Government out of touch with the reality of low income households.

Higher education requires a long-term funding strategy

11th February 2019


Time for Government to commit to a long-term funding strategy for higher education.

Power Monopoly: Central/Local Government relations in Ireland

8th February 2019

With local elections approaching in May of this year, now is a good time to examine the way Ireland has built its strcuture of government and how it differs from the European norm.

Support Public Libraries, Support Communities

6th February 2019

Libraries provide an important social outlet and educational role in Ireland, with 17.2 million visits recorded in 2016 by 754,748 members across 330 branch libraries and 31 mobile libraries.  Operated by Local Authorities, they play an important role in ensuring access to information, reading and learning material.

Time for Government to commit to eradicating poverty

4th February 2019


At such an uncertain time, domestically and globally, the government needs to make a centralised commitment to lift our most vulnerable out of poverty and to prevent any more people from falling into poverty. 

The dominance of Dublin football mirrors the imbalances in Irish society

1st February 2019

The increasingly imbalanced state of Gaelic football is merely one symptom of our imbalanced society. Ireland's current model, with so much development focused on the capital, precludes the kind of regional balance required for Ireland - and the GAA - to thrive.

Health and Housing: New Study links private rent with risk of infection and stress

30th January 2019

A study published in the Journal of Epidemiol & Community Health has found that ‘housing tenure, cost burden and desire to stay in own home’ are all associated with higher levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a biomarker associated with infection and stress.  With the number of households in private rented accommodation continuing to rise in Ireland, what does this mean for future generations and what policy responses are needed?

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.

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