Social Justice Matters

223. SJI Seminars Ep.61: Labour market outcomes of third level graduates in high-income EU members. Is Father’s education important? with Ciarán Nugent

Our 2024 Annual Social Policy Conference was on the theme of ' Managing Change to Build a Just Society'. Ireland is going through several major transitions, each of which is only going to deepen with time. While much is changing, many of the problems facing our society are long-standing: inequality, poverty, and under-investment in our social infrastructure remain major challenges. Although the economy in Ireland has experienced record growth since the pandemic, infrastructure and services in areas such as housing, healthcare and public transport are far below the levels and standards that would be expected in a normally functioning society.

Ciarán Nugent is an Economist at the Nevin Economic Research Institute. 

Ciarán presented his paper at our 2024 Annual Social Policy Conference. 

All videos, papers and presentations for the 2024 Annual Social Policy conference are available for download HERE.

 

222. SJI Interviews Ep.133: Ber Grogan and Carol Baumann, Simon Communities Of Ireland on Older Adult Homelessness in Ireland

Ber Grogan, Executive Director of the Simon Communities of Ireland and Carol Baumann, CEO of Galway Simon Community talk through their recent report : Older Adult Homelessness in Ireland

Information on Simon Communities across Ireland can be found HERE. 

221. SJI Seminars Ep.60: Marianna Baggio on 'Out of the shadows: understanding and formalising undeclared care work in the EU'

Our 2025 Annual Social Policy Conference was on the theme 'Care in a Changing World', bringing together voices from across the care landscape — carers, advocates, policymakers and organisations — to explore how care, rights and inclusion must evolve in a changing world.

Marianna Baggio is a research officer in the Social Policies unit at Eurofound,working on aspects of the European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS), as well as on the topics of gender pay transparency and informal care. Prior to joining Eurofound, she served as a policy analyst at the Competence Centre for Behavioural Insights of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. She has worked as a postdoc at the University Vita-Salute San Raffaele (Milan) and the University of Trento. She also brings extensive experience from a previous role as corporate social responsibility (CSR) officer in South Africa. Marianna holds a PhD in Economics and Management from the University of Trento,specialising in behavioural economics.

She presented her paper 'Out of the shadows: Tackling undeclared care work in the EU'. 

All videos, papers and presentations for the 2025 Annual Social Policy conference are available for download HERE.

 

220. SJI Interviews Ep.132: Dr. Naomi Feely, Children's Rights Alliance on 'Breaking the Cycle' and 'Breaking Silos, Building Futures' Reports on Child Poverty

Dr. Naomi Feely is Policy Director with the Children's Rights Alliance.

She chats with Susanne Rogers about two recent documents related to measures tackling Child Poverty in Ireland. 

Breaking the Cycle: New Measures in Budget 2026 to Address Child Poverty and Promote Well-being

Anois an tAm: Breaking Silos, Building Futures: Cross-Sector Action on Child Poverty

 

219. SJI Seminars Ep.59: Poverty Focus 2025

In Poverty Focus we examine the nature and experiences of poverty in Ireland. Drawing on the available statistical evidence, we outline how poverty is measured, the value of the poverty line and consider many of the groups in our society who are most exposed to living life below the poverty line. This year we pay particular attention to impact of cost of living pressures. 

This episode is a chance to listen back to the webinar launch of the publication which is available HERE. 

218. SJI Seminars Ep. 58: Aoife Ní Lochlain on Aviation and Fairness in Climate Policy: The Case for Making Flying Pay

Our 2024 Annual Social Policy Conference was on the theme of ' Managing Change to Build a Just Society'. Ireland is going through several major transitions, each of which is only going to deepen with time. While much is changing, many of the problems facing our society are long-standing: inequality, poverty, and under-investment in our social infrastructure remain major challenges. Although the economy in Ireland has experienced record growth since the pandemic, infrastructure and services in areas such as housing, healthcare and public transport are far below the levels and standards that would be expected in a normally functioning society.

Aoife Ní Lochlainn is Policy and Advocacy Manager at the Irish Environmental Network. 

Aoife presented her paper at our 2024 Annual Social Policy Conference. 

All videos, papers and presentations for the 2024 Annual Social Policy conference are available for download HERE.

 

217. SJI Interviews Ep.131: Social Justice Ireland on COP 30

The 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or Conference of the Parties (COP) of the UNFCCC is the upcoming 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference, to be held in Belém, Brazil, from 10 to 21 November 2025.

Our research and policy analyst Michelle Murphy briefly sets out what COP 30 is all about and what outcome is hoped for. 

UN Climate Change Conference - Belém, November 2025

Delivering a Just Transition for Ireland: policy options

216. SJI Interviews Ep.130: Steven O'Connell from the Football Cooperative - A community football health intervention for Men

Steven O’Connell is the founder of Football Cooperative, an award winning social enterprise that places recreational football as a hook to bring men together to get active delivering positive health outcomes. Through a place based model, Football Cooperative incorporates a network of recreational football sites and volunteer Game Coordinators that lead out weekly games year round. Games provide an opportunity for flexible, inclusive, and team based physical activity to form new friendships, share rich game experiences with a competitive edge.

 

In 2021, Steven led Football Cooperative to form an enterprise academic partnership with South East Technological University that measured the reach and impact of games following the principles of social return on investment. The social value of Football Cooperative was calculated to be for every €1 invested returned a social value of €17.60. As a result of this overwhelming evidence, Steven has engaged multiple key stakeholders to begin scaling up the initiative’s impact to more communities nationally.

Steven chats with us about the power behind a game of football and how it is changing lives. 

 

Website: www.footballcooperative.ie

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/footballcooperative/

Movember - The Real Face of Men's Health Report Ireland 2025 

 

 

215. SJI Seminars Ep 57: Matthew Donoghue on Enhancing Participation in Local Democracy? Opportunities and Challenges via Public Participation Networks

Our 2024 Annual Social Policy Conference was on the theme of ' Managing Change to Build a Just Society'. Ireland is going through several major transitions, each of which is only going to deepen with time. While much is changing, many of the problems facing our society are long-standing: inequality, poverty, and under-investment in our social infrastructure remain major challenges. Although the economy in Ireland has experienced record growth since the pandemic, infrastructure and services in areas such as housing, healthcare and public transport are far below the levels and standards that would be expected in a normally functioning society.

Matthew Donoghue is an Assistant Professor of Social Policy, in the School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice, University College Dublin. 

Matthew presented his paper at our 2024 Annual Social Policy Conference. 

All videos, papers and presentations for the 2024 Annual Social Policy conference are available for download HERE.

 

214. SJI Interviews Ep.129: Dearbháil Lawless on the power of Adult and Community Education

Dearbháil is the Chief Executive Officer of AONTAS, the National Adult Learning Organisation. AONTAS is an all-island membership based advocacy organisation that was established in 1969. Dearbháil is a passionate advocate and educator who has taught in Community, Further and Higher Education. In 2022, she received a DCU Alumni Award, and she was previously shortlisted for Excellence in Academic Teaching. Dearbháil is undertaking her PhD in Maynooth University looking at working-class women's experiences in adult and community education. She believes that adult learning is the greatest tool for creating positive social change.

Dearbháil chats about what adult and community education is, what it delivers for individuals and communities and AONTAS recent campaigns and research findings.  

AONTAS Publications

Community Education: Local, Lifelong, Life Changing Campaign 2025

Learn more at www.aontas.com