Budget Choices 2022 contains detailed, fully-costed Budgetary packages across more than a dozen policy areas including health, housing, education, welfare, sustainability and more; it also contains a range of costed, revenue-raising proposals.
Despite the immediate uncertainty, Budget 2022 must embrace the need for new approaches to how we as a society prioritise choices. People, well-being, public services and a widespread and fair recovery must come first.
The Programme for Government contained several commitments which, if fully resourced and implemented, would represent significant steps towards creating a fairer and more just Ireland. As we emerge into a new post-Covid reality, our latest National Social Monitor looks at whether Government is delivering on its commitments in key areas and suggests that, so far, Government’s achievements are not matching its commitments.
The CSO have released the latest in their Sustainable Development Goal Series. SDG Goal 8 seeks to promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. The CSO monitor and report on Ireland’s progress in achieving these targets, in this case, using 12 targets and 16 indicators as set out by the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from the United Nations (UN).
The latest NESC report, Digital Inclusion in Ireland: Connectivity, Devices & Skills, focuses on Digital Inclusion - what it is and why it's important. This Report provides key information for policymakers as we consider the world of work, education and social inclusion in an increasingly digital age.
How we plan our finances, and what we choose to prioritise, post-Covid-19, will have profound implications for the future of our economy and society. To this end Social Justice Ireland proposed to the Select Committee on Budgetary Oversight that the priorities for Budget 2022 should be adequate social welfare rates and poverty reduction, just taxation, housing for all and tackling unemployment.
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
The prospect of a return to high unemployment rates post pandemic is a daunting one and reiterates the need to ensure that the labour force is equipped and educated to meet the challenges ahead.
Employment Monitor is a briefing from Social Justice Ireland examining Ireland’s employment situation, including employment numbers, significant labour market trends, and other aspects of the macroeconomy. The purpose is to highlight selected trends and make recommendations with a focus on the policy goals of increasing employment, providing better working conditions, and creating a more just economic model and a fairer society. In this issue we look at the impact of Covid-19 on employment in Ireland and, for those who do not expect to return to their previous job post-pandemic, the impact on unemployment in the coming years.
