Caring for Health in Ireland is a response to the health care reform outlined in the current Programme for Government. Our response is inspired by key principles from Catholic social teaching – human dignity, the common good, participation, solidarity and subsidiarity. From the health perspective, issues analysed by Caring for Healthcare in Ireland include the current public health consultation, the proposed Universal Health Insurance scheme and related changes to the structure of the hospital system; mental health services; disability; older people; and palliative care.

Christmas is a time when we reflect on the Holy Family, a family whose love for each other and faith in God helped them to overcome great trials and suffering.

In the spirit of this reflection we cannot fail to acknowledge that many people throughout Ireland are anxiously awaiting the outcome of the Budget for 2012 in the Republic and the new Programme for Government in Northern Ireland. It is to be hoped that the measures adopted in these crucial areas will contribute to the common good and not further scar the social landscape.

“As we approach the second anniversary of the publication of the Murphy Report, I want to acknowledge the impact of the findings of such reports on the wider Church community … It is also important to state that as bishops, as human beings, we too know and experience that anger, that disappointment, that bewilderment and pain in our struggle to provide listening and leadership through this time of enormous challenge” – Bishop Treanor

Cutting Sunday premium pay will further undermine the vital recognition of Sunday as a day of rest and, for many in our society, a sacred day of prayer.

PRESS RELEASE 14 April 2011 Northern Ireland Catholic Council on Social Affairs (NICCOSA) hosts a discussion on the common good ahead of elections in Northern Ireland ‘Over 100, 000 children in Northern Ireland live in poverty. This is unacceptable. For every citizen the horror of this poverty deserves to be a key issue in determining [...]

PRESS RELEASE 8 March 2011 Council for Justice and Peace calls for greater protection for women from sexual violence in war Pope Benedict XVI, at a meeting with Political and Civil Authorities in Angola on 20 March 2009,    stated: “Particularly disturbing is the crushing yoke of discrimination that women and girls so often endure, not [...]

PRESS RELEASE 21 February 2011 NICCOSA calls for retention of current 50:50 special recruitment provisions for PSNI The Northern Ireland Catholic Council on Social Affairs (NICCOSA), which is chaired by the Archbishop of Armagh, Cardinal Seán Brady, assisted by Bishop Noel Treanor, Bishop of Down and Connor, with a membership of mostly lay Catholics, has [...]

This document the Council for Justice and Peace addresses the considerable financial turmoil that we face individually and collectively and the associated disaffection throughout Irish society.

  On 1 December 2010, the document Challenging Poverty in Northern Ireland, was launched jointly by the Northern Ireland Catholic Commission on Social Affairs (NICCOSA), the Society of St Vincent de Paul and St Mary’s University College, Belfast.     Challenging Poverty in Northern Ireland Challenging Poverty in Northern Ireland, a joint publication by the [...]