In a world designed to keep us busy and distracted perhaps the true work of humanity is building solidarity. Dr Noreen Byrne suggests some antidotes to the forces that suppress the human spirit and prevent us from connecting with others and with our own innate wisdom.

An article by Carol Power and Caroline Crowley highlights Ireland's growing home care crisis, driven by an ageing population and a shortage of care workers due to poor pay, conditions, and high stress in for-profit systems. Co-operative care models, like Dublin's Great Care Co-op, present a promising alternative, offering worker-led, high-quality care and reinvesting surpluses into services rather than profit. For these co-operatives to help solve Ireland's care challenges, the State must support their development while ensuring they remain independent.

Maintaining choice in how Irish consumers can pay for goods and services is fundamental to an inclusive society

With just six of the 20 league clubs now owned by supporters, fears are growing of an 'arms race' in private spending

We are much further removed from becoming a cashless society than some might like to think

The growth in fin-fluencers providing money advice on social media highlights the importance of regulation to protect consumers

770,300 tonnes of food are wasted in Ireland annually, but we can take steps to prevent it

As well as promoting health and wellbeing, men's sheds are also proving to be good places to address environmental issues

Sometimes innovative development strategies can be born out of adversity. One such example is the so-called 'Preston model' of Community Wealth Building (CWB) in the UK, which has been hailed as an exemplar for other cities and towns.