International Articles

Here is the text of an emergency motion passed at the recent Union of Students Ireland congress supporting the SWAN Ireland campaign against the introduction of a new “graduate scheme” in the Child and Family Agency Read More

An article in The Journal (National online “newspaper” in Ireland) about the proposed “new graduate” scheme for newly qualified social workers. Comments from The Social Work Action Network Galway included, along with details of the upcoming national demonstration being organised ... Read More

Dear SWAN Ireland friends, The new year is well underway and plans to progress the Social Work Action Network Ireland are in progress.  It was agreed at the SWAN conference in November 2013 that an All-Ireland steering committee would be established. The preference is for as many parts of the country as possible to be involved and to be represented on the steering committee. So far representatives from Cork, Galway and Dublin have come forward to be on the committee.  Read More

‘Exposing – Whistle-blowing – going ‘outside’ in the pursuance of justice for vulnerable people. Dr Margaret Kennedy PhD   Today in the Irish Times (10/01/2014) my case against the Brothers of Charity (BOC) , the HSE and the HSE (West) in the High Court clearly describes ‘vindication’ following what I believed were defamatory statements made about my professionalism and also inaccuracies that I had not reported concerns to the Brothers of Charity, which I had done, verbally and in writing, said in a published HSE review of Client Protection services in the Brothers of Charity Galway.   Read More

Simon Cardy (Twitter @simoncardy) of SWAN West Midlands, reports on the developing, mass strike action by social workers taking place in Los Angeles County, California: A very determined, and at times militant, strike of around 1600 social workers organised by the Service Employees International Union SEIU has been taking place in Los Angeles County over the last week or so. The SEIU is one of the largest public sector unions in America. A six day strike began on Tuesday 2nd December by social workers working in the Department of Children and Family Services Social Workers (DCFS) [1]. Thousands of support staff joined the strike after three days in a massive act of solidarity. They are fed up with a four year pay freeze, long hours and excessive caseloads – sounds familiar? Read More

The Social Work Action Network Ireland will be out in force outside Leinster House, Dublin, on Wednesday June 26th at 6pm to support the Special Needs Parents Association as they protest at the most recent callous cut to children with special needs education. Read More

SWAN North East event for World Social Work day: Developing Social Work in Central Asia, 20 March 2013. Dr Terry Murphy will present on the last 7 years of involvement of Teesside University Social Work department in developing Social Work in Central Asia including the complexities of working with the legacy of Russian and Soviet era colonialism and the interaction of modem social work thinking with the traditional Islamic Mahala system of local social care. Read More

Article taken by permission from Oxford University Press blog. John Harris of Warwick University writes below: Social workers around the world are being invited to celebrate World Social Work Day on 19th March under the banner “Promoting Social and Economic Equalities”, taken from the Global Agenda (2010). Such a call to arms is sorely needed in the face of the growing influence of neoliberalism on global social work, an influence manifested in marketisation, consumerisation and managerialisation. These dynamic processes and trends represent neoliberalism on the move as it colonises the world. This is not to suggest that the same detailed and identical neoliberal template for social work is emerging in many disparate countries. Rather, these three developments represent an overall direction of travel. Read More

SWAN supporters will be well aware of the decimation of Greek welfare and public services at large through the austerity policies demanded by the Troika. We have learnt from colleagues and comrades in SWAN Greece of new steps taken by the Greek Government against public education which have lead to the abolition of the Social Work Department in TEI of Patras. Please sign the petition at the link below: Read More

02/03/2013 The Social Work Action Network (Ireland) strongly condemns the Irish government’s recent decision to stop the crucial Mobility Allowance and Motorised Transport Grant schemes. This sudden decision was made on foot of a two year warning the Ombudsman Emily Reilly had given the government. She had advised the government that the schemes as they stood were in breach of equality legislation as they weren’t available to people over 66 years of age. Read More

The SWAN Ireland winter bulletin 2012 is now available to download. We would like to thank everyone who contributed to this edition of the bulletin. The amount of hard work and effort that has gone into establishing SWAN Ireland in ... Read More

At the Social Work Action Network (SWAN) North East Conference last Saturday (17th November 2012), SWAN passed a motion in relation to the current atrocities and human right abuses being inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza. At the time of writing (20th November) approximately 130 Palestinians have been killed including a large number of children. The motion makes reference to Summer Abu Zayed, a former social work student at Durham University UK, who is working in Gaza during this current conflict. The motion follows: Read More

Notes on ‘activist research: workshop on collective research for social change’ On Saturday, July 14th one of the SWAN Ireland members attended an activist research workshop. What follows is an outline of the day written by the facilitator, Mick O Broin. A link to the original article is at the end of the piece. Read More