Michael Tobin
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michaeltobin.bsky.social
Michael Tobin
@michaeltobin.bsky.social
Dad. Lecturer in Social Policy, SETU. Love sports and Belgian beer!
Reposted by Michael Tobin
Now out in Transfer (@etui.bsky.social): my article on the implementation of the minimum wage directive.

In October 2022, the EU adopted this landmark piece of social policy to ensure fair pay and strengthen collective bargaining. What impact has it had so far?

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Usages of ‘soft’ EU labour law: the implementation of the Minimum Wage Directive - Sven Schreurs, 2025
Transposition of the much-debated EU Directive on adequate minimum wages, adopted in October 2022, was due by November 2024. This article examines how the Minim...
journals.sagepub.com
October 29, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Reposted by Michael Tobin
🚨 #CfP reminder!
Join us in Oxford (13 Jan 2026) for
‘Social Policy in Europe: Diverse Contexts, Shared Challenges’

Exploring European #SocialPolicy?
We welcome papers using diverse methods and perspectives on urgent and evolving issues in the field 🌍

#EUSocialPolicy #PolicyStudies #PSA2026
October 20, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Reposted by Michael Tobin
"Poverty is no longer a standalone socio-economic issue. Instead, poverty is compounded by and interlinked with the increasingly dramatic effects of the climate emergency," @UNDP Acting Administrator Haoliang Xu.

news.un.org/en/story/2025/…news.un.org/en/story/202...25
Groundbreaking report reveals powerful link between poverty and the climate crisis
Nearly 80 per cent of the world’s poor – 887 million people – live in regions that are exposed to extreme heat, flooding and other climate hazards, highlighting the urgent need for global action to ad...
news.un.org
October 19, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Reposted by Michael Tobin
The EU is a geopolitical actor.

In a new article, just published in the @jeppjournal.bsky.social, I introduce the SI 𝘞𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘌𝘯𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮.

I argue for a framework of 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐠𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬: the EU’s way of wielding power.

👉 Read here: bit.ly/4mvKnh6
Why the EU is a geopolitical power: wartime enlargement, integration, and reform
The European Union is undergoing strategic redefinition through wartime conditions and shifting global orders, seeking to position itself as a geopolitical power. Enlargement and deeper integration...
bit.ly
October 3, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Reposted by Michael Tobin
Manchán 🕯️
October 3, 2025 at 6:47 AM
Living Wage 2025/2026 increases to €15.40.
October 1, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by Michael Tobin
📘 64.4

@legalmusings.bsky.social, @klueserthan.bsky.social & M.Haselmayer address how left‑wing parties have prioritised social progress over economic equality 💱 in recent decades.

#PoliSky #OA
Social progress at the expense of economic equality? New data on left parties' equality preferences
ALEXANDER HORN, K. JONATHAN KLÜSER, MARTIN HASELMAYER
ejpr.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 22, 2025 at 7:01 AM
When in Inistoige.
August 15, 2025 at 6:18 PM
Reposted by Michael Tobin
Just published #OpenAccess:

"Knowledge production and learning in housing struggles"

I examine how knowledge is produced and learned within housing struggles, particularly how non-housing issues spill over into housing movements.

Full paper here 👉 doi.org/10.1007/s435...
Knowledge production and learning in housing struggles - SN Social Sciences
This article examines the impact of advocacy for non-housing issues and its spillover onto housing movements. Adopting the viewpoint that activism is a social practice that generates knowledge, this s...
doi.org
June 27, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Leinster are URC champions!
June 14, 2025 at 5:51 PM
The former Waterford Crystal manufacturing site is to be transformed to form part of the country’s first co-located university enterprise quarter in a €130 million initiative.

@setupresident.bsky.social

www.wlrfm.com/news/waterfo...
Waterford Crystal site set for €130m transformation | WLRFM.com
The former Waterford Crystal manufacturing site is to be transformed to form part of the country’s first university enterprise quarter.
www.wlrfm.com
June 11, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Reposted by Michael Tobin
“Nick O’Brien has made a thought-provoking contribution to the literature on administrative justice, powerfully arguing that democratic participation should be at the core of official responses to citizen grievances.” - Paul Daly, University of Ottawa
Politics and Administrative Justice
Politics and Administrative Justice - Postliberalism, Street-Level Bureaucracy and the Reawakening of Democratic Citizenship; This book argues there is urgent need for a radical reassessment of the way...
buff.ly
June 10, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Happy to finish my first marathon yesterday alongside my brother. Love the little Oscar statuettes from my boys 🤗
June 2, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Reposted by Michael Tobin
Families' wealth in 1427 predicts their wealth in 2011.
May 27, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Reposted by Michael Tobin
Looking forward to attending this lecture this evening.

www.tasc.ie/news/2025/04...
Latest News & Events | TASC - Think-tank for Action on Social Change
www.tasc.ie
May 27, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Reposted by Michael Tobin
🚨 New study reveals that when used to summarize scientific research, generative AI is nearly five times less accurate than humans.

Many haven't realized, but Gen AI's accuracy problem is worse than initially thought.
May 19, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reposted by Michael Tobin
Researchers from SETU Carlow and Waterford at the Sociological Association of Ireland Annual Conference 2025 at UCC
#SAIcon25 #SociologyIreland
@setu-research.bsky.social #SETU #SETUResearch
May 10, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Really enjoyed the SAI annual conference. Fantastic papers and discussions. @sociologyireland.bsky.social
May 9, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Reposted by Michael Tobin
Two weeks on from the publication of the near decade-long Farrelly commission investigation into the 'Grace' foster home abuse case, and questions are still being asked about its findings, writes Fiachra Ó Cionnaith
'Grace' report: Questions after unprecedented statement
Two weeks on from the publication of the near decade-long Farrelly commission investigation into the 'Grace' foster home abuse case, and questions are still being asked about its findings, writes Fiac...
www.rte.ie
April 29, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Reposted by Michael Tobin
The prison population across Ireland exceeds 5,000 in a system with bed capacity for over 4,600, leaving the Irish Prison Service operating at 14% over capacity
Prison overcrowding 'extremely concerning', says IPRT
The prison population across Ireland exceeds 5,000 in a system with bed capacity for over 4,600, leaving the Irish Prison Service operating at 14% over capacity.
www.rte.ie
April 24, 2025 at 4:13 PM