The Economic Recovery Plan announced today, while welcome, is not of the scale required to address the social, economic and environmental challenges that we now face. Covid-19 has brought extraordinary social and economic costs. Alongside this, the challenges that existed pre-Covid remain and cannot be ignored
Once Covid-19 has been defeated, all countries will face a major challenge: to decide how the experience of the pandemic and our response to it should impact the future of our society? Social dialogue could play a vital role in delivering a new Social Contract and rebuilding our society and economy once the worst of the health impacts are contained.
In its annual Socio-Economic Review Social Justice Ireland argues that fundamental changes are required if Ireland is to have a fair recovery post-pandemic. Returning to pre-Covid normal would mean failure. A new Social Contract is needed and it can be developed and delivered.
The National Economic and Social Council (NESC) have published a review of Community Call, the programme which delivered co-ordinated support to vulnerable people remaining at home during Covid-19 lockdowns. Community Call is an experiment in partnership between national and local government, and the community and voluntary sector. It delivered the state organised and community-based support programme for those aged over 70 and the medically vulnerable during Covid-19.
In this socio-economic review for 2021 Social Justice Ireland presents a detailed analysis of a range of key matters which are central to social justice; a vision of Ireland’s…
Since early 2014, the PPNs have evolved, from the initial Introduction Period, through the Development Period to the Consolidation Period (Bourke, 2017) and are now firmly established and recognised as the main conduit by which Local Authorities engage with their communities, with a membership of more than 15,000 organisations from the Community and Voluntary, Social Inclusion and Environmental sectors (Department of Rural and Community Development, 2019). This research is based on a survey of relevant stakeholders and their experience of the participation processes at local government level.
At the European level, what the pandemic has cast doubt on is the very fundamentals of European integration. The main features of the European Union, what could be described as its “pillars”, are these: the single market and freedom of movement, the euro and the Stability and Growth Pact, and competition and state-aid law. We can already look ahead and see that the post-crisis EU could be standing on very different foundations if the questioning of the three basic pillars continues over time or, conversely, it could just as easily go back to its old ways. What will the world environment in which this happens be, though? Here there are four possible scenarios emerging.
If Ireland is to succeed in addressing the challenges we are faced with, the pathway to doing so must be founded on consensus, must be well-managed, and must be properly evaluated. A deliberative decision-making process, involving all stakeholders and founded on reasoned, evidence-based debate is required.
'Building a New Social Contract – Policy Recommendations’ contains more than eighty specific policy recommendations that would go a considerable direction towards a new social contract to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of everyone and ensure that a no-one is left behind as our economy and society recovers from the impact of Covid-19.
Public participation lies at the heart of the social contract, which has not always been a given in relation to environmental decision-making. Individuals and communities have come together to organise, mobilise and use legal mechanisms where necessary to protect their environment, working tirelessly to have their voices heard, whether they were formally invited to participate or not.
