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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.

Ireland should “Put people at the centre of policy measures,” according to UN expert on extreme poverty

21st January 2011

The economic and financial crisis in Ireland poses a disproportionate threat to vulnerable segments in the country who benefitted little from its economic boom in the first place, the UN Independent Expert on human rights and extreme poverty, Magdalena Sepúlveda has warned.

The EU/IMF Bailout is unjust and unfair - it should be re-negotiated

19th January 2011

Social Justice Ireland believes that:

Climate Change Bill is weak and should be strengthened

13th January 2011

Social Justice Ireland welcomes Government’s publication of the Climate Change Response Bill 2010.  While some of its proposals are welcome the Bill is weaker than the Government’s Framework Document published in December 2009.  It is weaker than the commitment to legislation contained in the renewed Programme for Government. It is also weaker than what was proposed by the cross-party Oireachtas Committee. Changes have been introduced at the behest of major vested interests w

Ireland has one of the worst levels of social justice among OECD member states

11th January 2011

Ireland is the fourth most socially unjust of the OECD member countries according to the Bertelsmann Foundation. The study examines social justice as a measure of citizen’s participation in society and the policies of inclusion that a state implements in order to include as many citizens

Full text of the EU/IMF Programme Documents

1st December 2010

Full text of the EU/IMF Programme Documents can be accessed here

Details of Bailout programme measures: fiscal, structural reforms and bank measures

1st December 2010
Fiscal Measures in the Programme 
 
Taxation 
 
Lowering of personal income tax bands and credits or equivalent measures 
A reduction in pension tax relief and pension related deductions 
A reduction in general tax expenditures 
Excise and other tax increases 
A reduction in private pension tax reliefs 
A reduction in general tax expenditures 
Site Valuation Tax to fund local services 
A reform of capital gains tax and acquisitions tax 

The EU Commission, the IMF and the Irish Government continue to insult Ireland's poor and vulnerable people

29th November 2010

The insult to Ireland’s poor and vulnerable people originally perpetrated by EU Commissioner for Economic and Monitory Affairs, Mr Olli Rehn (when he refused to meet representatives of these groups during his recent visit to Ireland) has been repeated and worsened by the terms of the bailout agreement. The bailout programme proposes to target unemployed people while they make no provision for any new jobs that unemployed people could take up to exit unemployment.

Agreement with EU, ECB and IMF leaves Ireland's poorest people paying for debts accumulated by banking gamblers

28th November 2010

Ireland's negotiations with the European Commission, the ECB and the IMF were concluded on Sunday, November 28, 2010.  The bottom line is that Ireland's tax-payers, poor people and vulnerable people are to take the full impact of the 'hit' for bank losses.

UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico - from Sean McDonagh - December 15, 2010

27th November 2010

The UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico, concluded on December 11, 2010. Fr Sean McDonagh, SSC, attended the conference.  Below are his final reflections on the agreement reached at Cancun.  His previous ten updates can also be accessed below.

Nobel Laureate's article on 'Eating the Irish' - New York Times November 26, 2010

26th November 2010

November 25, 2010 The New York Times 

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