November '25: 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
It might seem a little soon to reflect on 2025, but this will be the last newsletter for the year. Since March we’ve published a newsletter each month, we’ve enjoyed the sharing behind the scenes of our work and hearing from you. We’ve had helpful, constructive and positive feedback. Thank you for making the time to take a look, we hope you’ve gotten something helpful from our newsletters.
We would like to acknowledge one of the leaders of Social Justice in Ireland, Sr Stan Kennedy. Her loss will be felt by many, but we are sure her legacy will live on in the organisations she founded.
Goodbye to Marcella:
In other news our much-valued colleague, Marcella Stakem, will be leaving the Social Justice and Policy team at the end of November to take up a role as Senior Advocate with the National Advocacy Service.
Marcella has been an integral part of SVP for eight years, and her contribution to the work of social justice within the Society has been exceptional. Her wisdom, insight, and compassion, combined with an unwavering work ethic, have shaped many of our initiatives and strengthened our voice on behalf of those we serve. Marcella’s ability to approach complex issues with clarity and empathy has made a real difference—not only to our team but to the wider community.
While her departure is undoubtedly a great loss to the Society, we can all take pride in the legacy she leaves behind and the positive impact of her work. I know you will join me in wishing Marcella every success as she embarks on this new chapter in her career.
Thank you, Marcella, for everything you have done for SVP and for the cause of social justice. You will be greatly missed.
Best regards,
Louise
Reflection on Social Justice and Policy Change :
Policy development is often a slow-moving and frustrating existence, but any shift; a conversation before a meeting, a new report, quick phone call, radio interview, an email (though not all emails!) take us a step forward to a policy change.
The work will develop and continue in 2026, and we are delighted to continue sharing it with you. In the new year we will be developing a broader 3-year Social Justice Strategy that will detail what policies will have our focus and how we will aim to influence policy change for those at the centre of our purpose.
Thank you again, Nollaig Shona Duit, agus Beir Bua & Beannacht!
Speaking Up
Louise was interviewed by RTE Average electricity bill expected to rise to €1,877 from October - report | Morning Ireland - RTÉ Radio 1
On Sunday 9th November Louise joined the Brendan O’Connor Show
Submissions
Submission on the development of Ireland’s Social Climate Plan
The EU has established a Social Climate Fund to support households vulnerable to the energy transition and ensure no one is ‘left behind’.
To receive resources from this Fund, Ireland must develop a Social Climate Plan, outlining how funds will be used to ensure a just transition. SVP submitted to the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment’s consultation on the development of a draft Plan.
To receive resources from this Fund, Ireland must develop a Social Climate Plan, outlining how funds will be used to ensure a just transition. SVP submitted to the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment’s consultation on the development of a draft Plan.
In our submission, we emphasise that Ireland’s Social Climate Plan must be explicitly aimed at energy poverty. We recommend the Plan targets groups at greatest risk of energy poverty such as one parent families and private and social housing tenants. We also highlight how many groups at greatest risk of energy poverty, such as Travellers, are structurally excluded from current schemes. Our submission provides clear, actionable suggestions for how these excluded groups can be supported under Ireland’s Social Climate Plan.
Our overarching recommendation is that those currently excluded from or at the margins of existing programs be prioritised and made the focus of any new initiatives.
Policy in Focus - Agitate - Campaigning Email Tool
Last month we contacted our Social Justice Network group to ask for their views on using an email tool for our campaigns. 16 out of 18 responses said that thought it was a good idea. The full details of the responses are below. Thank you to everyone who responded.
We contacted our Social Justice Network Members to ask their views on using an email tool for our campaigns. From the survey we received 18 responses, most responses, 16, thought it was a good idea to adopt Agitate for our Social Justice campaigns, “a much needed voice for those less fortunate” - survey responder, 2 did not.
We will bear in mind the feedback from the two who did not think it was a good idea and ensure all the communication we use is clear and concise. We will also be creating a very short user guide for how to use and get the most out of the tool.
We also asked, “What areas network members are most passionate about and most likely to get involved in?” the answers we received are in the graph below.
It’s reassuring to see that the top five areas the Social Justice Network are most passionate about are the areas our work have been focused on.
So, what happens next? We are currently writing a 3-year Social Justice Strategy, which will be our direction and plans for our campaigns and advocacy work, from this we will decide on when to use the Agitate tool in the campaigns.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us on, socialjustice.network@svp.ie
Behind The Scenes
Food Poverty Alliance:
This month we attended the first meeting of the Food Poverty Alliance in Southwest Dublin. The Alliance will address the accessibility, availability, and affordability of healthy food in Southwest Dublin, building on the comprehensive research in the Spinning Plates report (read the report here).
The Alliance is a multi-agency group bringing together including ourselves, the Liffey Partnership, the HSE, Department for Social Protection, local representatives, and local community organisations.
Local initiatives such as this play an important role in developing policy by making clear which interventions work, which don’t, and providing examples for the development of national policy. SVP is excited to lend our experience and advocacy to this project, and to take what we learn from this project to other local areas and national initiatives.
Food Poverty Event:
On 6th November, Louise spoke at a Food Poverty event hosted by the Dublin Children and Young People’s Services Committee (CYPSC) at Wood Quay Venue. The event was a round table of organisations supporting households experiencing food poverty. We look forward to ongoing co-operation with the groups involved.
Launch of Focus Ireland Report on Lone parents and Homelessness :
On November 26th, Focus Ireland launched a report on lone parent and homelessness, which included 19 lone parent co-researchers, who had experienced homelessness or housing precarity. Louise gave the response to the report and then there was a panel discussion which included Karen Kiernan (CEO of One Family), Gayle Smith (Information and Policy Officer, Treoir) and Stephen Moffatt (National Policy Manager, Barnardos) and Connor Murray (Manager, Family Homeless Action Team, Focus Ireland). The report contains many recommendations that have been advocated by SVP, but the details of the report highlight the complexity and barriers faced by these parents. The report can be accessed here.
On November 26th, the National Women’s Council hosted a conference to look European successes to build an integrated, public system of childcare, as an equality measure for an equal start for all children and as an essential measure to address gender inequality. The second panel was addressing the issues in the Irish context and included Darragh O’Connor from Siptu and Maria Joyce from the National Traveller’s Women Forum. Louise chaired the important discussion, which highlighted the need for us all to unite in our call for a public model of childcare.
Pavee Beoirs in Conversation: The Road to Traveller Women's Human Rights:
At the end of November, we had the privilege of attending Pavee Point, Pavee Beoirs in Conversation: The Road to Traveller Women's Human Rights To a packed room Traveller Women from different generations talked about how difficult it was navigating the conversation 40 years ago, how much it has changed and the on-going work for the younger traveller men and women today. They discussed that the barriers of racism and discrimination still exist, and that traveller women are moving forward with their lives and education but the concern that the support only exists within Traveller and Roma support organisations and not in the wider systems, organisations and services. Dr. Stephanie O’Keeffe, CEO of Cuan, shared her reflections and talked about the importance of partnership working with traveller support organisations.
We saw the premier of a video made by travellers for travellers about intimate image abuse, watch the video here.
Newsletter Feedback
If you’d like to provide feedback, please email socialjustice.newsletter@svp.ie
For those in NI, please get in touch with the Social Justice Team NI if you have any items you wish to make them aware of socialjustice@svpni@com
