It is widely accepted that securing employment plays an integral part in reducing re-offending rates and creating safer communities. With this in mind, the Probation Service and Irish Prison Service (IPS), supported by the Department of Justice and Equality, established a Social Enterprise Steering Committee in 2016 to oversee and drive the development of ‘social enterprise’ initiatives as a way of increasing employment among people with criminal convictions. The ‘Social Enterprise Project’ arose from this process.
In 2019, IASIO was asked by the Irish Prison Service and Probation Service to host the Social Enterprise (SE) Project and submit a proposal in that regard. IASIO believes there is mutual benefit in hosting the SE Initiative in IASIO as IASIO shares common objectives with the SE Initiative, in particular around employment opportunities for people with convictions.
One way of supporting social enterprise is through purchasing the goods and services they provide. BuySocial.ie helps to connect you with trading social enterprises which have been set up to do good and sell products and services to achieve that end. Check out buysocial.ie for their full product/service listing.
