July: Social Justice Newsletter
Welcome to the Social Justice Team Newsletter
Welcome to the Social Justice Team Newsletter. We are delighted to bring you this month's edition. We hope you find it useful and helpful. The newsletter is now available on the SVP website.
In this issue
Introduction
On the 15th of July we launched our Pre-budget Submission for Budget 2026. To those who made it to the launch, thank you for being there.
This is a key milestone in our year, and an important submission to the government, which outlines our recommendations to them to eradicate poverty, particularly child poverty and improve the equity in peoples lives. Read the full submission here. Grab a cuppa and enjoy.
Speaking Up
Pre-budget Submission
Read our pre-budget press release here. With the great support we received from Jim, Maree and Caoimhe at Walsh PR our pre-budget submission got national and local news coverage.
- Claire Byrne Live – Listen to Louise here
- Interview with Rose McGowan on Virgin Media News - Listen here
- Nessan Vaughan, Chair of the Social Justice Committee spoke to Near FM
- Irish Examiner - in print and online here
- Newstalk Breakfast Briefing - Interview with Louise
- The Sun - online here
- Northern Sound - Interview with Rose McGowan here
Cost of Living Crisis
On the weekend before the launch of our Pre Budget Submission, the ongoing cost of living crisis continued to feature in many newspapers, with commentary from the Society. Rose was quoted in an article in the Mail on Sunday, and Louise was interviewed by the Sunday Independent.
Claire Byrne Show
On Friday July 25th, Louise joined a panel discussion on the Claire Byrne show to discuss the National Development Plan and Budget 2026. You can listen back here.
Behind The Scenes
Meeting of the CRU’s Consumer Stakeholder Group and Energy Suppliers at SVP House
On the 2nd July, we were very pleased to host an in-person meeting of the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities’ Consumer Stakeholder Group at SVP House in Dublin.
This was a joint meeting the CRU facilitated between CSG and energy supplier and network representatives.
The focus of the meeting was supporting customers in payment difficulty, and there was a stimulating and important conversation about how we can best assist households in energy arrears heading into winter. We heard presentations from Niamh O’Carroll, Researcher in the MESL Research Centre at SVP, Gerard O’Brien, National Development Officer at MABS Support CLG, and Caoimhe McWeeney and Áine Ní Cheara, representing the Electricity Association of Ireland Retail Committee.
We would like to thank the CRU for organising this in-depth workshop which enabled participants to share their insights with one another on such an important issue. We look forward to similar engagements in the future.
Child Poverty and Wellbeing Unit and Sports Ireland Workshop:
Marcella participated in a workshop at the Department of an Taoiseach facilitated by Sports Ireland as part of the Child Poverty and Wellbeing Cross Government Network. This was the first of two workshops. In attendance were also colleagues from the National Youth Council of Ireland, Ombudsman for Children, Department of Youth Affairs, Department of Education and Barnardos. The team at Sports Ireland were particularly interested in the perspectives we shared. During the two-hour workshop we highlighted our experiences of low-income households' ability to participate in sport and the values of our organisation. We also got the opportunity to explore what a solved problem would look like for children in poverty.
The aim of the workshop was to foster a conversation to understand the problem of child poverty and sports participation. In Ireland, children from low socio-economic backgrounds have a much lower rate of participation in community sport than their more affluent peers. We know that sport and physical activity play a critical role in mitigating the inequalities in health and wellbeing resulting from socio-economic inequalities. We were invited to give our response on the proposal put forward by Sports Ireland on their perspective of the challenge.
The next workshop is taking place in late August. We are due to meet with Sports Ireland, as well as Barnardos before the next workshop.
Pre-Budget Forum with Department of Social Protection:
On July 17th, Louise attended the Pre Budget forum hosted by the Department of Social Protection. The all-day event was attended by Minister Dara Calleary and many of his senior officials. The event included workshops, where she was able to discuss our recommendations directly with Minister Calleary and the Secretary General of the Department John McKeon. She was also able to raise cross departmental issues around the medical card and HAP.
Our Pre-Budget Submission report to the Department of Social Protection was submitted last month. To read the full submission, read here.
TASC Inequality Report 2025:
We attended the launch of the TASC Inequality Report 2025 at the Irish Architectural Archive. The TASC team presented an overview of the report, highlighting the key findings, followed by a panel of experts.
The data illustrated how high income remains heavily concentrated among the top 10% and top 1%, while the bottom 50% receives a disproportionally smaller share. They also examined income distribution, at-risk-of-poverty rates, and enforced deprivation rates across demographic groups, identifying those most vulnerable to poverty are including people under 18 and over 65, those experiencing unemployment, those unable to work due to long standing health illness, lone parents, people with low levels of education and renters.
The four panelists each shared their reactions to the Inequality Report, focusing on how loneliness and social exclusion affect the specific demographics they work with. Their insights offered a powerful and personal complement to the data presented in the report, highlighting how inequality and isolation manifest across different sectors- from youth services and elder care to policy and psychological research. The full report can be found here.
HSE CEO Dialogue
Marcella attended a dialogue meeting with the HSE’s CEO, Bernard Glouster as part of our membership of the Children’s Rights Alliance. It was a unique opportunity for CRA members to engage with the CEO on pressing issues for children and young people. This is our second meeting with the current CEO.
We held a pre-meeting to discuss the issues and to set the agenda for the Dialogue. The issues discussed at the pre-meeting and raised with the CEO included disability services for children, the mainstreaming of children’s rights within the HSE and updates on the National Hidden Harm Project and work that can be done to assist children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).
It was an important and informative meeting. We got the opportunity to share our experiences of supporting families who are caring for a child with additional needs. We are due to meet with the CEO again early next year. This will be our last meeting with him as he plans to retire in March 2026. We are planning to continue these dialogue meetings with the new CEO of the HSE as they are a useful initiative for our sector. The CEO stated he learns a lot from them too; from hearing about the lived experiences of people using the vital services provided by the HSE.
Consultation with the Department of Rural and Community Development:
On July 23rd, Louise attended a consultation with the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Minister Jerry Buttimer at an event in Tullamore. The meeting brought representatives from the Community and Voluntary Sector to a consultation process on the development of a new strategy to support the community and voluntary sector. The Covid Crisis and weather events over the last couple of years have shown the important role the community and voluntary sector has in responding to emergencies, and it is important that the work is supported.
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Equality
On July 8th, Louise was before the Committee on Children and Equality, as a delegation from the National One Parent Family Alliance (NOPFA), which we are members of. The Equality Bill was being examined as part of the Pre Legislative Scrutiny process.
There are many positive aspects to the Bill, but there are also missed opportunities. In the debate, we raised issues around introducing socio-economic discrimination as 10th ground for discrimination in the legislation and strengthening the definition for family status. On the day, we were joined by colleagues in One Family, National Disability Authority, Pavee Point, National Women's Council and IHREC (Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission). You can watch it back here or read the debate here.
What’s on the horizon
DEIS Advisory Group Workshop with the Department of Education at the end of August to continue our input into the development of DEIS Plus scheme and the new DEIS plan.
Policy in Focus
On Friday 25th July, the monthly homeless figures were published for the end of June. We thought it was a good opportunity to reflect on the trends for the first six months of this year. Overall, there was an increase of 629 people in homelessness. This was made up of 614 people in families and 15 single people. This is a worrying trend when we have no family strategy and highlights a significant policy gap. You can read our thoughts here.
Newsletter Feedback
We had some very positive feedback from Members and external peers. It was great for everyone involved to hear from those we found the information helpful. Thanks to those who got in touch. If you’d like to provide feedback, please email socialjustice.newsletter@svp.ie
For those in NI, please get in touch with the team if you have any items you wish to make them aware of socialjustice@svpni@co.uk
