Social Justice Matters

132. SJI Interviews Ep81: Youth Homelessness with Aisling O’Hara, Galway Simon

Aisling O'Hara is Service Manager for Youth Services & Community Based Housing with Galway Simon Community.  Galway Simon Community provide support and accommodation services to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness in the West of Ireland.

Aisling chats with Susanne Rogers about youth homelessness, the impacts on young people, the care and resources required and ideally what needs to be included in the Youth Homelessness Strategy. 

131. SJI Interviews Ep80: Parkrun with Matt Shields

Matt Shields, Country Manager for Parkrun Ireland chats with Susanne Rogers about the evolution of this community and volunteer led initiative. Matt Shields brought Parkrun to Ireland and has watched it grow and spread to 134 varied and diverse communities with more being added all the time. We talk about the physical and mental health benefits of exercise and volunteering that the Parkrun community experiences and what lies ahead for 2022. 

130. SJI Seminars Ep30: Ana M.Guillén and Maria Petmesidou - A Greener and more Social Pillar

Ana M. Guillén is Professor of Sociology at the University of Oviedo, Spain, and director of the PROMEBI research group, Promoting Work and Welfare in Europe. She acts as a consultant to the European Commission and the International Labour Organization. She is also a member of the Scientific Board of the Observatoire Social Européen (OSE, Brussels) and of the International Social Security Association. 

Maria Petmesidou is Emeritus Professor at Democritus University, Greece. She served as Chair of the Sociology Department of Crete University as well as of the Department of Social Administration (renamed Social Policy Department) of Democritus University. For several years she was fellow/scientific committee member of CROP (Comparative Research on Poverty) sponsored by the International Social Science Council (UNESCO) and the University of Bergen.

We can listen back to Ana and Maria presenting their joint paper for the Social Justice Ireland's 34th Annual Social Policy Conference on the European Pillar of Social Rights, "A Greener and more Social Pillar".

All the Papers and Videos from the Conference can be accessed HERE.

129. SJI Interviews Ep79: Dr. Michelle Maher and See Her Elected

The SHE Project is a collaboration between the Women’s Manifesto Project (a Longford Women’s Link programme) and 50:50 North West, organisations with strong links at grassroots level. A unique project, it is ‘ploughing new furrows’ in developing an innovative rural strategy to ensure women from our rural constituencies gain their rightful place on our councils and in Dáil Eireann.

In this week's episode, Colette Bennett chats with Dr. Michelle Maher on all things female participation, the role of women in local government and why she's so passionate about this project (and she really, really is!). 

For more information on this brilliant initiative, go to www.seeherelected.ie 

128. SJI Seminars Ep.30: Budget Choices 2023

Budget 2023 should be guided by one core principle, that the measures adopted prioritise the protection of the most vulnerable groups in our society. To this end Budget 2023 should prioritise continued strategic investment in long-term infrastructure projects focused on social housing provision and achieving our committed climate change targets alongside targeted cost of living measures.

The fiscal context for Budget 2023 is one of the most difficult in some time due to an uncertain social and economic outlook.  The Budget must respond to the current cost of living challenges but also recognise uncertainties regarding the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and its legacy effects, geopolitical instability as a result of war in Ukraine, and an ongoing cost of living crisis through 2022 and 2023. 

Regardless of fiscal uncertainty, Government must prioritise the protection of the most vulnerable in making its Budgetary decisions. 

This episode is a listen back to our Budget Choices 2023 launch. To download the full policy briefing, or take a look at the video, go to our website https://www.socialjustice.ie/publication/budget-choices-2023-policy-briefing

127. SJI Interviews Ep 78: The National Economic Dialogue 2022

The National Economic Dialogue 2022 took place in Dublin Castle on Monday, 20th June. Social Justice Ireland were in attendance, CEO, Seán Healy, Research and Policy Analyst, Michelle Murphy and Economic and Social Analyst, Colette Bennett. They chat with Research and Policy Analyst, Susanne Rogers about the background of the event, who participates, what happens on the day, our policy asks and the benefits of dialogue. 

More information about this year's National Economic Dialogue can be found HERE. 

 

126. SJI Interviews Ep 77: Music Industry and Climate Action with Karla Rogožar, IMPALA.

This week's episode is a conversation between Susanne Roger and Karla Rogožar. Karla is the Project Assistant at IMPALA, the Independent Music Companies Association, representing nearly 6000 music companies across Europe. Karla is the coordinator of IMPALA’s sustainability task force and climate analysis group, gathered under a 15-point charter that the organisation released in early 2021. IMPALA also has a sustainability programme with voluntary targets for members, find out more about it here and discover more about their carbon calculator made with Julie’s Bicycle (the first bespoke tool in the sector) here. They chat about IMPALA, the 15 point climate charter, the vinyl resurgence and climate action for the music industry. 

125. SJI Interviews Ep 76: Lifelong Learning with Nora Condon, Solas

This week, Susanne Rogers chats with Nora Condon, Senior Data Analyst with Solas about lifelong learning and gaining skills for life and work. The world of work is changing with green and digital transitions and as we live longer, we may work for longer. We need access to upskilling and reskilling in order to benefit from these opportunities and deal with the challenges.

SOLAS is the State agency tasked with building a world class Further Education and Training (FET) sector to fuel Ireland’s future. All their work can be accessed HERE. We discuss these three reports specifically Lifelong Learning Women on home duties Moving on up.

Further information about courses and options for learning can be found here: https://www.fetchcourses.ie/ and  https://smartchoices.ie/

124. SJI Seminars Ep29: Liina Carr on the role of the European Trade Union Confederation in delivering the EU Pillar of Social Rights.

Liina Carr was re-elected ETUC Confederal Secretary in 2019, having first been elected in 2015. Her responsibilities at ETUC include macroeconomic policy, economic governance and the European Semester, the European Pillar of Social Rights, social protection, external relations, implementation of UN Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals in the EU and development cooperation, as well as human resources. Liina has been a member of the European Economic and Social Committee since 2004. 

We can listen back to Liina presenting her paper for the Social Justice Ireland's 34th Annual Social Policy Conference on the European Pillar of Social Rights, "The role of the European Trade Union Confederation in delivering the EU Pillar of Social Rights".

All the Papers and Videos from the Conference can be accessed HERE.

123. SJI Interviews Ep 75: Violence in Women’s Prisons with Keith Adams, JCFJ

There have been a number of reports recently of issues and complaints in Dóchas, the women's prison in the Mountjoy campus in Dublin. In this week's episode, Colette Bennett discusses these issues, the lack of transparency and the Government's decision not to publish reports of the Inspector of Prisons, as well as how the narrative to end violence against women leaves many behind.

We are delighted that Social Justice Matters has been recognised by FeedSpot as one of the 35 social justice podcasts you should be following in 2025. Check out the list here.