The Issues of General Election 2016: Childcare and Parental Leave
Childcare Policy & Gender Equality: Will the next government deliver? The incomparably high costs of childcare in Ireland continues to cripple low to middle income earners who work full time. The average annual cost of childcare in the EU accounts for 12% of family income, in Ireland this figure rises to 35% for Irish families....
The Issues of General Election 2016: Housing
Five years after the 31st Dáil was elected on the backlash of the property crash, housing remains one of the most contentious issues in the run up to General Election 2016. Different housing approaches have been taken over the course of the state’s existence, with each holding specific benefits and downsides to its social stakeholders....
Income inequality in Capitalist Structures: Live and Let Die?
The recent Oxfam report An Economy for the 1% (Oxfam International 18/01/16) has received widespread international attention for reporting the growing economic disparity between the world’s richest and poorest. The startling figure that resonated with international media was the revelation that 62 of the world’s richest people own the same amount of wealth as half...
‘Why should surfers be fed?’ Unconditional Basic Income in Ireland
With a General Election imminent, testing social issues are sure to be voiced readily over the coming months in both party manifestos and general public discourse. One topic that will certainly take centre stage in the upcoming debates is the issue of social deprivation and how to best combat economic poverty in a state still recovering...
The end of Schengen and the Euro dream? Europe’s crisis of consensus
A European project which set out with the intention of complete convergence and policy harmonization has ironically, resulted in widespread divergence and disharmony.
Individualistic Homelessness: Housing the roofless
While decriminalising drug possession is a simplistic and ultimately self-defeating approach (a topic to be addressed in a future article), it must also be realised that incarceration is not a suitable response to dealing with social problems such as narcotic abuse, and will ultimately only succeed in increasing rooflessness, itself a gateway to narcotic use....
Structural Homelessness: Life on hold
In 2008, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government released the strategy document, titled The Way Home: A Strategy to Address Adult Homelessness in Ireland, 2008-2013, providing a positive vision on the future status of homelessness by stating that: “From 2010, long term homelessness (i.e. the occupation of emergency accommodation for longer than...
Syrian crisis: Pragmatism in the face of suffering
There is a clear sense that the current crisis is a knee-jerk, short-sighted response to the crisis, a reaction to public pressures arising from the inflow of migrants into Europe as opposed to the actual cause of the displacement. Widespread public sympathy for the plight of migrants exists; itself in part generated by emotionally charged imagery...
Unity in Diversity? The European Migrant Crisis
In order to comprehensively deal with the unfolding migrant crisis in the long-term, our compassion and empathy must not overshadow room for sustainable solutions, which would in turn jeopardise the quality of life for the refugees and migrants in question. This article aims to emphasise the importance of collective compassion and sympathy, while simultaneously advocating for...
Elections in Canada: Harper’s last bow?
It is certain that the slowdown in the Chinese economy will have far-reaching political repercussions. Across the world, countries reliant on the export of natural resources and commodities are about to enter a period of economic turbulence due to the decline in Chinese demand, with corresponding electoral fallout for those in power. The exemplar here...
Part-time work: lessons from the Polder model
In the cases of Ireland and the United Kingdom, the welfare of workers is largely evaluated on the basis of occupational status and earnings. The implication of this is that part-time jobs are widely regarded as sub-standard jobs, deviating from the ‘norm’ of full-time work by which worker welfare and self-actualisation are often measured. Indeed,...
Ending Extreme Poverty: The Case for Relative vs. Absolute
In perhaps the most memorable anti-poverty speech of our time Nelson Mandela remarked “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity; it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on...
