June 2025 Update

Dear Sisters and Friends, 

I draw your attention to this, the June 2025 - Justice Desk Update. As is always the case in our emails, there is indeed too much, and so what we're offering is the chance to browse through that which catches your interest and that  then you might share with others some of what you found to be of concern or interest. 

1. First up this month is a commentary on the problem with 'Shein', the cheapest online clothes shopping app, that to all intents and purposes is addictive. There are environmental costs, troubling supply chain practices, poor pay for workers and possible exploitation of Uyghurs. You can read this report HERE

2. I was invited to speak at the launch of the Leave No One Behind Conversations, Series 4. I wrote an article that was included in the report itself. This was an exciting opportunity given that I was sharing the podium with Ambassador David Donohoe who was the final negotiator to eventually bring the SDGs across the line. I include links to the report, my speech and some photos of the day itself. 

3. On May 21st next, 12 schools have been invited to Áras an Uachtaráin, from nearly 40 applicants who have submitted their videos for inclusion in this years "Global Citizenship School 2024 - 2025 One Minute Video Campaign". These 12 videos can be seen below and the schools included are a mixture of age groups. locations, topics and sensibly they are new to this event.  

4. Cork Against Human Trafficking: You can learn a little more about this wonderful organisation below. 

5. Recently published statistics by the Central Statistics Office on Child Deprivation. 

6. This is from an Editorial in the Irish Times (May 5th 2025: Beautiful tribute to Sean McDonagh)

7. A tribute to Pope Francis with respect to his encyclical: Laudato Si from the Columbans.  

8. The Sisters of St Joseph of Peace, Catholic nuns located in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey (US), have spent the past four years filing shareholder resolutions related to Citigroup, urging the parent company of one of the world’s largest investment banks to rethink its financial ties to fossil fuel projects that harm Indigenous communities. This is of some significance and interest to all in the IPA. 

9. Be Like Francis - (The Last Word)

Title: “Ireland’s SDG Promise: Powered by People, Led by Hope”

Good afternoon, everyone,

It’s a real honour to speak with you today about something that is not just a policy or a project, or a global ambition—but a personal promise. For a few minutes I wanted to comment on “Ireland’s SDG Promise: Powered by People but Led by Hope” A promise that we, here in Ireland, have made to ourselves, to each other, and to the world: to leave no one behind just as we have seen in the LNOB Community Conversations Series 4.

The Sustainable Development Goals—those 17 ambitious targets adopted by the United Nations—are not just global ideals. They are local responsibilities. They live in our schools, our towns, our communities, and our choices. And here in Ireland, we’re showing that real change doesn’t only come from government buildings or global summits. It comes from the ground up. It comes from you. It comes from Community Conversations.

To be honest the SDGs can sometimes feel like a huge mountain to climb—ending poverty, tackling climate change, achieving equality, but in our honest, local conversations we’ve learned that “Support means being seen” and people talked about choice, and voice, and dignity—about how real inclusion means having agency over your own life, across the entire lifespan—from early childhood right through to old age.

People spoke about systemic barriers—poverty, disability, rural isolation, homelessness, discrimination—and about the heavy silence that can fall when your voice isn’t in the room. What we also learned that real change doesn’t start with millions. It starts with one.

1.     One person deciding to care.

2.     One team creating a project.

3.     One school choosing to act.

4.     Or one community choosing to include and participate.

And across Ireland, that’s exactly what’s happening local people are leading the charge. Young people have decided that They’re not waiting to be “old enough.”  And Communities are not waiting for permission. They, or rather you are turning the SDGs into real, meaningful, everyday action. Whether it’s fighting fast fashion, promoting mental health, standing for climate justice, or lifting up voices that have been ignored for too long—you are doing the work. You are the change. But we must be clear: we still have work to do.

These are too many are still being left behind.

1.     Families without homes.

2.     Children without access to quality education.

3.     Communities without clean energy or access to opportunity.

And while Ireland has made progress—policies around gender equality, renewable energy, and social protection—we know gaps remain.

1.     The housing crisis.

2.     Mental health waiting lists.

3.     Educational inequalities. These are not just headlines—they are the lived realities of far too many. And they threaten the very dignity the SDGs were built to protect.

That’s why we must double down—not just with policies, but with people-powered movements. Because if the first 10 years of Agenda 2030 were about government plans, the next 5 must be about grassroots power. The SDGs need communities and community conversations. They need their creativity, their courage, their wisdom, their lived experience and their conviction.

So, the message from the Community Conversations is one that insists we keep going, that we keep showing up—for those who can’t always speak. For migrants and ethnic minorities. For rural communities. For people living in poverty. For those with disabilities. For those in care, addicted, unwell or in prison and for our planet. Because leaving no one behind means exactly that—no one.

This isn’t just about 2030. It’s about today. And these Community Conversations are actual evidence that we care enough to act.

And so, the challenge remains—whether you’re an activist, a student, a policymaker, or a neighbour, wherever you live we must ensure that the meaningful conversations continue, and that today’s wonderful event is a new spark. A reminder that every action counts and that leadership isn’t about titles—it’s about impact.

These engaging conversations remind us that we are not too small, we are not too young and that we are exactly who the world needs right now.

The focus and the message is clear, we must keep building an Ireland—and a world—where everyone belongs, and no one is left behind.

And so, today, I would love us to do more than celebrate the SDGs in these authentic conversations. We need to reflect, to recommit—and to recharge the SDG movement with a deeper sense of urgency and inclusion that shows all who are interested that we are listening—not just to the loudest voices, but to the quiet ones, the struggling ones, the silenced ones to those furthest behind and we can only do this when we begin with those furthest behind first – as David Donohoe has asked us to do time and time again. 

Thank you. 💚🌍 (Brian O’ Toole 24th April 2025)

The full report can be downloaded HERE

This is from an Editorial in the Irish Times (May 5th 2025: Beautiful tribute to Sean McDonagh

A Legacy worth building on editorial on The Irish Times, May 5th 2025

The Catholic Church has hardly stood in the vanguard of the scientific revolution. That makes it all the more remarkable that a major, if sadly understated, part of the legacy of Pope Francis is his encyclical Laudato Si’, which embraces the most advanced science on the climate and biodiversity crises.

And he did not hesitate to call out the origins of these crises in a society driven by consumerist greed. He repeatedly links what he calls the “cry of the earth” to “the cry of the poor”.

He demonstrates a feeling for the wonders of nature that any environmentalist could echo. His personal sense of distress is palpable: “We can feel the desertification of the soil almost as a physical ailment, and the extinction of a species as a painful disfigurement.”

The Irish priest and veteran environmental and human rights campaigner Seán McDonagh, who contributed much of the scientific backbone to the document, has spent most of his life fighting a very lonely battle to convince his superiors and colleagues that the church had an obligation to denounce ecological and economic degradation.

He was overjoyed to be brought from the far periphery to the centre of Vatican thinking. But he remained far from starry-eyed about the broader church’s capacity to absorb this new teaching. And, inside and outside the Church, the impact of the encyclical remains muted.

One must wonder to what extent this is the inevitable outcome of the toothlessness of the calls to action in the document, especially to the church, where Pope Francis wielded immense ideological and institutional power. Heartfelt eloquence alone won’t change the world.

One can’t help wishing that, just this once, Pope Francis had been a tad more authoritarian. But his call was nonetheless important and part of an international recognition of the climate crisis which is now, worryingly, facing something of a reversal. In this context, we must hope that whoever is elected from the forthcoming conclave is not afraid to take up the environmental baton and build on the legacy of Pope Francis.

In Memory of Pope Francis

With hearts full of gratitude, we at RENATE honour the life and passing of Pope Francis—shepherd of peace, voice for the voiceless, and a light in the fight against injustice.

We will never forget our audience with him on 7th November 2016. Each of us had the privilege to shake his hand, speak with him, and feel seen in our mission.

We presented him with a St. Brigid’s Cross, woven from rushes gathered on the Curragh Plain in Kildare—woven with our hopes, prayers, and commitment to end human trafficking.

As the accompanying prayer read: ‘’Ar scáth a chéile a mhairimíd’’ – an Irish idiom which translates:

“We live in the shelter of each other.”

Pope Francis, you were that shelter for so many. May your soul rest in peace, and may your legacy continue to guide us.

#PopeFrancis #RENATE #InMemoriam #StBrigidsCross #FaithInAction #TogetherAgainstTrafficking