The urgency in Francis’ communication to us makes it clear that ecological action cannot wait until it feels comfortable – we do not have time to allow his message to transition slowly from head to heart to hands but we must consider how the action of our hands can help us understand the crisis both intellectually and emotionally

Irish Travellers are overrepresented in homelessness services and Traveller families can be left in emergency accommodation for years, which adds another level of trauma to the institutional abuse they have endured for decades. In a group whose suicide rates are several times that of the settled community, the impact of every factor which impacts upon mental health must be lessened, making the provision of secure, appropriate housing for Travellers a matter of urgency. 

Laudate Deum is clearly written to inspire the delegates who will attend the COP28 meetings in Dubai in December. Francis carefully lays out how previous COPs concluded with high hopes that have never quite delivered. The reader can almost hear his frustration at how every year the Great and the Good gather and discuss these critical issues and every year they disappoint.

Maybe the reason the Kenny Report is sitting on a shelf gathering dust is that governments do not want to reduce the cost of housing.  Their core voters are home owners who will be horrified at the thought that the value of their house would be reduced, even minimally. But unless they are planning to sell the house, that is a purely paper reduction.

The massive costs and long construction times associated with nuclear power means that every euro invested delays decarbonisation. Since the crisis we face is urgent, the wise approach is to prioritise the transitions that are cheapest to build and fastest to deploy.

If a climate of fear dominates most public discussion of drug policy, it is often associated with, or justified, by a climate of moral disapproval – drugs are bad, therefore we must eliminate them, we cannot be seen to tolerate them in any way. The war on drugs must continue and any dissenting voices must be suppressed.  

Causing the death of a pedestrian or cyclist will continue to be treated as manslaughter but the statutory response to careless and dangerous driving resulting in serious injury is not served by meagre fines for motorists who do not even have a driving ban imposed. Lifetime driving disqualifications must be on the table of sanctions as a driver who has caused injury has visibly demonstrated an inability to safely operate a motor vehicle

We are not yet feeling the worst impacts of climate change. However, this summer’s wetter than normal weather has already played havoc with the agricultural industry, reducing growth and impacting harvesting. Imagine the impact of more widespread flooding, or the compounding impact of several years of climate induced poor yields. Our reliance on a very narrow range of environmental conditions and our failure to build up our environmental resilience is incredibly risky.

Travellers are overrepresented in homelessness emergency accommodation and also comprise part of the ‘hidden homeless’ in Ireland; people who are living in precarious or overcrowded housing. Traveller families with children are often left lingering in emergency family hubs for far longer than families from the settled community before being offered homes. When they are offered homes, these are often inadequate or ill-suited to their needs. Travellers who try to get tenancies in private rented accommodation face discrimination and have applications rejected.

Research suggests that even switching to cycling or walking one day a week can have significant consequences for our personal carbon footprint and our collective emissions. Developing tailored Irish studies that draw out the kind of emissions reductions that are achieved through school-based active transport initiatives would be an important element of the argument that could encourage local councils to commit to real evidence-based policy.