Reimagining Development

Tom McDonnell is co-director of the Nevin EconomicResearch Institute in Dublin and was one of three researchers who compiled a report for Oxfam published in January 2026 titled Confronting Wealth Inequality in Ireland.  In this episode, Tom sets out the report’s economic, social and democratic case for a tax on extreme wealth, alongside the need for Ireland to take a principled position in internationalnegotiations on global tax justice.  He persuasively outlines the potential benefits from introducing a wealth tax includingclamping down on tax evasion, raising revenue for public services, and reducing inequality.  He also argues the case fora global tax framework administered by the UN that would help stem the drain of finances from the global South to the global North.

Dessie Donnelly is a member of the Rabble Cooperative, Ireland's first technology cooperative which supports progressive organisations and social movements to realise the power of technology in strategies for social change.  The Rabble Co-operative was commissioned by the Equality Commission in Northern Ireland to monitor online activity linked to violent far-right protests held in Belfast in August 2024.  Their report found that both violent disorder and racist attacks were being fuelled by disinformation and misinformation online orchestrated by far-right actors outside the jurisdiction.  In this episode, Dessie discusses how racist and anti-immigrant online messaging can inflame offline events on the ground that primarily target migrant and minority ethnic communities.  He proposes public policy responses to racist violence and intimidation and debates the role of education in sustainably challenging the root causes of online and offline racism.

Alfredo Saad Filho is Professor of International Political Economy at Queen’s University Belfast and a former Senior Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations Conference onTrade and Development (UNCTAD).  In this episode he unpacks neoliberal economics and its role in reproducing extreme inequality and fermenting the slide toward fascism across the world. He argues that the there is no solutionto the climate emergency under neoliberalism and discusses the need for a green transition and a robust democratic transformation defined by mass participation, solidarity and social need.  He calls for systemic thinking in the international development sector that challenges the root causes of poverty found in the predatory dynamics of neoliberalism.

Rebecca Heslin is a clinical psychologist and vice-chair of the Dublin branch of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC).  In this episode, she discusses the concepts of praxis and psychology in the context of solidarity and activism forPalestine.  Rebecca applies a psychological lens to Palestinian solidarity and reflects on how we can sustain our hope, optimism and activism while being mindful of our mental health.  She reflects on her own experiences as an activist and psychologist to discuss what motivates us to take action on global issues and how we can resource ourselves to keep going. 

Jim Clarken is the CEO of Oxfam Ireland and an Executive Director of Oxfam International.  He is a leading commentator on human rights, inequality, sustainable development, the rights of refugees and migrants, and business and human rights.  In this episode, he discusses the findings of Oxfam’s 2025 global inequality report titled “Takers Not Makers: The Unjust Poverty and Unearned Wealth of Colonialism”. The headline statistic in the report is that billionaire wealthgrew by $2 trillion in 2024, equivalent to roughly $5.7 billion a day, while the number of people living in poverty has barely changed since 1990.  He discusses the economic system that is driving this inequality and how it can be reformed. 

Priya Lukka is a doctorate candidate in the School ofPolitics and International Relations in the University of Leeds. She recently delivered a workshop to members of Bond, the British network of network for organisations working in international development, on a “harm-repair approach” to global justice that acknowledges historic wrongs and how they can be accounted for. This episode discusses her approach to structural power relations, the factors that perpetuate the exclusion of people and the idea of reparations.

Joe Murray has recently stepped down as Director of the Irish NGO Action from Ireland (AFRI), having worked in the international development sector in Ireland since the 1980s.  He reflects on his career as an educator, activist and campaigner for social justice, peace and sustainability.  In a dangerous period of military escalation around the world, Joe calls for demilitarisation and cautions against Ireland’s deepening involvement in the arms trade.  He also calls for the development education sector in Ireland to more directly engage with the crises impacting our world at present and to keep their practice ‘real’.

Andrea Sempértegui is a professor of Politics at WhitmanCollege, Washington State, and Michelle Báez Aristizábal is a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador. They are both academics and activists who have carried out research on Indigenous resistance to a mega-mining project called Mirador in Ecuador’s southern Amazon.  This episode discusses the environmental cost of the mining project and how it has impacted Indigenous communities and their relationship with land.  Andrea and Michelle also discuss their membership of an anti-extractive collective in Ecuador called Comunalisis.

Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven is a Senior Lecturer in International Development at King’s College, London and Surbhi Kesar is a senior lecturer in the Department of Economics at SOAS University of London.  They are the co-authors of a research report titled Decolonising Economic Development: The Role of the Development Sector which was published by Bond, the British network for organisations working in international development. The report asks to what extent International NGOs support resistance to a colonial or neo-colonial order, or continue to be dominated by a Eurocentric view of economic development?  This episode discusses the report and its implications for the international development sector.

Lubnah Shomali is Advocacy Manager with BADIL, a Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights in the occupied West Bank.  She discusses the acceleration of Israel’s forcible displacement and transfer of Palestinians in the West Bank since 7 October 2023.  She also reflects on the mass incarceration and torture of Palestinians and the importance of language in documenting human rights abuses committed in the context of settler-colonialism.