Examining underbelly of Celtic Tiger
At a time when it seems that the grand edifice of Western capitalism is in conflagration, it is apt that the Winter 2008 volume of the Jesuit journal Studies should be devoted to ‘Burning issues’. Indeed, in his editorial Fergus O’Donoghue SJ makes explicit the correlation between economic prosperity and social problems. “When the Celtic Tiger was roaring,” he writes, “we became distracted. The homeless and drug addicts do not vote, so we forgot about them. The response to crime was to lock criminals up, rather than try to rehabilitate them. We needed immigrants to keep the economy moving, but we ignored the presence of people who were ‘trafficked’ here.” This volume takes a useful look at such issues as our fifteen-year “celebration of selfishness” wanes. For full details, go to the Studies website.