Author: ATD Ireland

This week the ATD Ireland team supported by the Presentation Sisters and the Christian Brothers presented a series of Understanding the Hidden Dimensions of Poverty workshops in collaboration with the Margaret Alyward Centre. See here to read about a workshop we carried out with 30 students from St. Mary’s Holy Faith Secondary School.   We completed these ‘dignity in dialogue’ workshops with an online zoom session on the evening of Thursday 18th February.  Attended by friends and members of ATD UK and Ireland, the Presentation Sisters and the Christian Brothers and the Margaret Aylward Centre, along with members of the general public, this…

"What I’ve learned from the workshop is that a lack of empathy is the most important thing that can happen to someone, and a lack of empathy is what people in power often have" - Student Workshop Participant This week the ATD Ireland team supported by the Presentation Sisters and the Christian Brothers presented a series of Understanding the Hidden Dimensions of Poverty workshops in collaboration with the Margaret Alyward Centre. These 'Dignity in Dialogue' workshops were designed to raise poverty awareness and offer participants an opportunity to learn first-hand about the various causes and hidden dimensions of persistent poverty. Input from people with…

Dignity for all in practice: Overcoming poverty based discrimination  On 11 February, ATD Ireland, including community activists Andrew and Gavin participated in a UN zoom event 'Dignity for all in practice: Overcoming poverty- based discrimination.  This was a side event to the United Nations Commission for Social Development 2022.  This event was attended by ATD Ireland, Professor Diane Roman, Professor Oliver De Schutter (UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights), Mr Gouba Ousseini (Permanent mission of Chile to the UN), and moderated by Professor Sandra Liebenberg.You can read a summary report of this workshop hereRead Andrew's full speech below:Presentation…

Two young people have recently completed internships with ATD Ireland and spoke about their experiences and the knowledge they have gained.  Initially, being drawn to ATD arose from a passion for human rights and equality and a desire to have more enriching experiences with people from diverse backgrounds.  “Attracted by diversity and fascinated by multiculturalism, I applied for an internship with ATD Fourth World”. Courage and generosity of activists An internship with ATD exposes the courage of community activists and those in poverty in sharing the intimate details of their stories and life experiences in the hopes that their honesty might…

Please consider donating to support our work alongside families and individuals struggling with poverty.  ATD Ireland continue to work to support people whose lives are the toughest.  The Covid- 19 pandemic pushed many individuals and families further into poverty and isolation. “Families already struggling from hardship, poverty and socio-economic discrimination are dropping further and further behind and getting forgotten completely”.  – Community activist. Family support, family visits and gatherings have been a way to combat this marginalization. The aim of this is to keep connected with the wider ATD community and to provide support to families or individuals in times of…

Family Support An integral part of the work done at ATD Ireland are the family visits, cultural outings and family support. Visits to family homes, hostels and disadvantaged areas take place weekly for a catch up and a chance to discuss some personal issues and offer support if needs be. We do this to make sure our community knows that we are still around even if they have not, for whatever reason, been able to make it into the office.  It is important that we keep up communication with everyone we know. There are multiple aims of support; to offer company,…

On 15 November 2021, ATD community activist Andrew spoke over zoom at a European event titled “Listen to the Cry of the Poor in the context of Covid- 19 and its recovery organised by the COMECE Social Affairs Commission”.  The purpose of this webinar was to bring the voices of people who have suffered from poverty and of the Church to the EU institutions to discuss how best to address poverty in the context of the Covid- 19 pandemic and recovery.  The Statement of the COMECE (Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community) Social Affairs Commission states that despite declining…

The #Add The 10th Alliance welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Consultation on the Review of the Equality Acts.#Add The 10th Alliance includes a number of organisations which have come together to highlight the urgent need for the inclusion of socio-economic status as a ground in Irish equality legislation. The current Alliance members include:All Together in Dignity Ireland,Association for Higher Education Access & Disability,Community Action Network,Free Legal Advice Centres,European Anti-Poverty Network Ireland,Independent Living Movement IrelandIrish National Organisation of the Unemployed.Many of the organisations were previously members of the Equality and Rights Alliance. The member organisations of the Alliance…

What is socio- economic discrimination? ATD Ireland are part of an alliance called #addthe10th.  The purpose of this group is to have socio- economic status recognized as the tenth ground of discrimination in Irish equality legislation, namely the Equal Status Act and the Employment Equality Act.  The add the tenth alliance is made up of All Together in Dignity Ireland, Association for Higher Education, Access and Disability, Community Action Network, Free Legal Advice Centres, European Anti- Poverty Network, Independent Living Movement Ireland and Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed.  There are currently nine grounds of discrimination set out in equality legislation…