<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Society.ie &#187; Social Policy | Society.ie</title>
	<atom:link href="https://society.ie/tag/social-policy/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>https://society.ie</link>
	<description>Social Issues Website</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 14 Feb 2019 10:04:44 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en-US</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.38</generator>
<xhtml:meta xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" name="robots" content="noindex" />
	<item>
		<title>Neighbourhood of strangers: AirBNB and the commodification of housing</title>
		<link>https://society.ie/2018/09/neighbourhood-of-strangers-airbnb-and-the-commodification-of-housing/</link>
		<comments>https://society.ie/2018/09/neighbourhood-of-strangers-airbnb-and-the-commodification-of-housing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 17 Sep 2018 08:00:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ryan Ó Giobúin]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ryan's digest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Airbnb]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Homelessness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Housing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Inequality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ireland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sharing economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Welfare State]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://society.ie/?p=1056</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Figures published by the Department of Housing this month indicate that the number of homeless people in Ireland has reached the 10,000 mark. Responding to the escalating figures, Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy said that current housing policies ‘were working’, but that the nature of the housing crisis meant it could never be ‘turn[ed] around in two years’. Four years ago, with homeless figures at a comparatively paltry 3,000, this author wrote of the urgent need for further provision of social housing and a policy understanding that the private sector would not be able to adequately provide for the housing needs of the economically marginalised in Irish society. Since then, homelessness has more than trebled, and for those in Dublin fortunate enough to be able to afford rent, over half their net income is now needed to cover it, making Dublin more expensive than Paris, Singapore or London (Borough) as a proportion of income spent on rent, with Galway exceeding the rent as percentage of income for notoriously expensive San Francisco. Coincidently, it was the prohibitive accommodation prices of San Francisco that led to the development of one of the most successful ‘sharing-economy’ applications invented and the subject of this [&#8230;]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>https://society.ie/2018/09/neighbourhood-of-strangers-airbnb-and-the-commodification-of-housing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Conditional Cash Transfers: Alleviating the Present, Investing in the Future</title>
		<link>https://society.ie/2017/03/conditional-cash-transfer-alleviating-the-present-investing-in-the-future/</link>
		<comments>https://society.ie/2017/03/conditional-cash-transfer-alleviating-the-present-investing-in-the-future/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 31 Mar 2017 21:35:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ryan Ó Giobúin]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ryan's digest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Basic Income]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Conditional Cash Transfer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Travellers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Welfare State]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://society.ie/?p=975</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Irish social policy model, in particular when it comes to welfare provision, is generally categorised as Liberal in nature, taking a passive, ‘safety-net’ approach to welfare intervention. Such a system is intended to alleviate the risk of extreme deprivation, but keep public welfare sufficiently sparse so as not risk the creation of poverty/unemployment trap. I have argued in my previous article that passive welfare regimes, like the one employed in Ireland, are becoming outdated as states begin to implement flexible welfare regimes in response to the growing complexities of the employment market. Universal Basic Income, or Guaranteed Income, has long been touted as a solution to precarious employment and labour displacement arising from technological advancements. But to date no state has rolled out a fully universal and unconditional Basic Income programme from which policy analysts can gauge effectiveness. Yet while the unconditional cash transfer element of UBI has not been employed in any state to date, direct, conditional payments to households have been in place for several decades in various states as a direct approach to combat deprivation. These programmes, termed as Conditional Cash Transfers (hereafter referred to as CCT), are predominantly but not exclusively employed in Latin American [&#8230;]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>https://society.ie/2017/03/conditional-cash-transfer-alleviating-the-present-investing-in-the-future/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Guaranteed Income: a Dream or a Solution for 2017?</title>
		<link>https://society.ie/2016/12/guaranteed-income-a-dream-or-a-solution-for-2017/</link>
		<comments>https://society.ie/2016/12/guaranteed-income-a-dream-or-a-solution-for-2017/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 31 Dec 2016 22:54:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ryan Ó Giobúin]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ryan's digest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Basic Income]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic Inequality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Finland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guaranteed Income]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Negative Tax]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UBI]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Universal Basic Income]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Welfare State]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://society.ie/?p=938</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In his 1967 book Where do we go from here, Martin Luther King wrote: I am now convinced that the simplest approach will prove to be the most effective — the solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed measure: the guaranteed income. This coming year marks the fifty year anniversary of the last book written by Martin Luther King before his assassination. In the half century that has followed, poverty has not been eradicated, economic inequality has been exacerbated, and the concept of a guaranteed income, while remaining a ‘widely discussed measure’, has not been implemented in any state. With the modern economy increasingly fluid and transnational in nature, the concerns raised by Martin Luther King in his seminal work remain as pertinent and contemporary as ever. The security of the Nine-to-Five job is increasingly being replaced by flexible and precarious work practices the modern globalised economy requires. While precarious employment has long been acknowledged as a concern of the unskilled manual and service industry workers, the rise of the modern precariat extends job insecurity into all areas of employment affected by globalisation and neoliberal economic practices. The temptation is to seek to combat the [&#8230;]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>https://society.ie/2016/12/guaranteed-income-a-dream-or-a-solution-for-2017/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Issues of General Election 2016: Healthcare</title>
		<link>https://society.ie/2016/02/the-issues-of-general-election-2016-healthcare/</link>
		<comments>https://society.ie/2016/02/the-issues-of-general-election-2016-healthcare/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 25 Feb 2016 19:56:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ryan Ó Giobúin]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General Election 2016]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ryan's digest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Elections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Healthcare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ireland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NHS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Private]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UHI]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://society.ie/?p=854</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The healthcare system is an inefficient, two-tiered mishmash of public and private providers and clients, and is in urgent need of drastic change. This much all political parties are in general agreement on. However, approaches to resolving the failings and inefficiencies of the current system vary widely, from the private-provision orientated philosophies of Renua, to the fully public visions of the Anti-Austerity Alliance/People Before Profit group. In my previous article addressing the possible introduction of UHI in Ireland, it was argued that health care was one of the anomalies of private market efficiency, in that not only were international examples of public provision of healthcare more comprehensive in nature than their private counterparts, but that public provision was also consistently the most efficient method of allocation and spending. This is down to the fact that, for the invisible hand of the private market to efficiently allocate goods, perfect information, perfect competition and the absence of market failures is required (Barr, 1984, p. 79). Yet the assumption that consumers of healthcare are perfectly informed both as to the quality and nature of their health insurance is questionable, with consumers often either over or under-insuring their person. Indeed, an evaluation of the Dutch health [&#8230;]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>https://society.ie/2016/02/the-issues-of-general-election-2016-healthcare/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Issues of General Election 2016: Housing</title>
		<link>https://society.ie/2016/02/the-issues-of-general-election-2016-housing/</link>
		<comments>https://society.ie/2016/02/the-issues-of-general-election-2016-housing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Feb 2016 22:35:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ryan Ó Giobúin]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General Election 2016]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ryan's digest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Elections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Homelessness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Housing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ireland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Policy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://society.ie/?p=803</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[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. Historically, private home ownership has largely been promoted as the ideal housing solution, with former Taoiseach John A. Costello describing home ownership as giving people ‘a stake in the country’, and amounting to ‘good business nationally and socially’ (Norris and Redmond, 2005, pp. 18, 26). A previous article on this website has argued against the continuation of state-endorsed private ownership of housing owing to the ‘ghettoization’ it has the potential of inducing, posing the risk that individuals who would not normally be able to afford a house on the open market end up purchasing a house through Local Authority discounts or through government assistance (mortgage interest relief, stamp duty cuts). The risk of such a policy approach is that those home owners are less able to financially afford the upkeep of their housing, leading to housing dilapidation similar to that occurring in some inner city communities [&#8230;]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>https://society.ie/2016/02/the-issues-of-general-election-2016-housing/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>&#8216;Why should surfers be fed?&#8217; Unconditional Basic Income in Ireland</title>
		<link>https://society.ie/2016/01/why-should-surfers-be-fed-unconditional-basic-income-in-ireland/</link>
		<comments>https://society.ie/2016/01/why-should-surfers-be-fed-unconditional-basic-income-in-ireland/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 17 Jan 2016 23:04:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ryan Ó Giobúin]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ryan's digest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Basic Income]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ireland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Poverty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Welfare State]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://society.ie/?p=745</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[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 from the downturn. Internationally, various competing approaches to combatting poverty exist, ranging from the comprehensive if expensive welfare state schemes associated with the Social Democratic model, to more threadbare ‘safety-net’ welfare regimes (Liberal model) intended to encourage individuals to pursue paid employment in the labour market in order to improve their personal welfare. In Ireland, the current administration advocates job creation as the best method of alleviating poverty, with ALMPs intended to reduce unemployment levels and thereby increase economic wellbeing. Yet major disincentives continue to exist for unemployed individuals attempting to enter employment, with the loss of benefits and new costs acting to counteract some of the benefits of paid employment. The following table covers some of the potential disincentives facing jobseekers in Ireland: Name Description Causes Unemployment Trap Owing to the withdrawal of benefits on entry into employment, individuals’ net income is actually higher [&#8230;]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>https://society.ie/2016/01/why-should-surfers-be-fed-unconditional-basic-income-in-ireland/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Individualistic Homelessness: Housing the roofless</title>
		<link>https://society.ie/2015/11/individualistic-homeless-housing-the-roofless/</link>
		<comments>https://society.ie/2015/11/individualistic-homeless-housing-the-roofless/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2015 00:28:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ryan Ó Giobúin]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ryan's digest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Homelessness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Housing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ireland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Welfare State]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://society.ie/?p=694</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[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.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>https://society.ie/2015/11/individualistic-homeless-housing-the-roofless/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Part-time work: lessons from the Polder model</title>
		<link>https://society.ie/2015/08/part-time-work-lessons-from-the-polder-model/</link>
		<comments>https://society.ie/2015/08/part-time-work-lessons-from-the-polder-model/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 29 Aug 2015 10:44:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ryan Ó Giobúin]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ryan's digest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Netherlands]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Part-time]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Welfare State]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Work]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://society.ie/?p=589</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[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, the inferior rights, earnings, entitlements and status associated with part-time jobs has led them to being dismissed in both official and unofficial discourse as secondary or ‘marginal’ work with a propensity towards menial and unskilled employment, and largely occupied by women (Visser, 2000, p. 20; Connolly and Gregory, 2010, p. 927). Employment facilitation measures in Ireland are currently largely being directed towards the formation of full-time employment opportunities for both genders, with the increasing need for subsidised childcare provision and improved parental leave structures some of the core issues arising from the debate. The argument this article will seek to make is that part-time work can and indeed ought to be made a viable alternative to the dual-earner or sole breadwinner models currently associated with employment in the Anglo-Irish economic model. The Polder Model The popularity of part-time work in the Netherlands can largely be [&#8230;]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>https://society.ie/2015/08/part-time-work-lessons-from-the-polder-model/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Housing: replacing the wobbly pillar</title>
		<link>https://society.ie/2014/08/housing-replacing-the-wobbly-pillar/</link>
		<comments>https://society.ie/2014/08/housing-replacing-the-wobbly-pillar/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 16 Aug 2014 14:00:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ryan Ó Giobúin]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Features]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ryan's digest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Budget 2015]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Housing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ireland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Policy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://society.ie/?p=312</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The recent election of Joan Burton as the 11th leader of the Labour party brings hope to its members of a change in the fortunes of their party which faced an electoral nightmare in the local and European elections. But comments made by Burton that ‘a Labour priority in the remainder of this Government’s term would be to deliver a major social and affordable housing programme’ will also bring hope to the 3,000 homeless persons, and 250 families being housed in short term accommodations. Housing was once labeled the ‘wobbly pillar under the welfare state’, but in a country with a shambolic healthcare system and a stuttering public service, some might argue that the welfare state itself is but an illusion, and other services such as healthcare ought to prioritized ahead of social housing. Burton’s re-emphasis on delivering social and affordable housing may be interpreted by some as a cynical attempt to regain the support of Labour’s traditional electoral base of the urban working class, which deserted the Labour cause in droves at the recent local elections. Yet regardless the reason, the return of the debate on social housing should be welcomed as an opportunity to reevaluate the role social housing [&#8230;]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>https://society.ie/2014/08/housing-replacing-the-wobbly-pillar/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
