Valesca Lima | Public Policy

Facing an infodemic: How Ireland has communicated evidence-informed responses to COVID-19 on social media?
— September 17, 2021

Marina Schenkel, UCD Geary InstituteValesca Lima, UCD Geary Institute Key points Social media platforms have become a critical communication tool for generating and disseminating information, and are key public communication strategy misinformation. Government leaders and institutional Twitter accounts generally reacted to the spread of Covid-19 with the sharing of scientific evidence, mostly in line with…
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Tax Losses and Good Tax Governance in Ireland
— August 10, 2021

Valesca Lima, UCD Geary Institute Key Points • Ireland loses over $14bi in tax every year to global tax avoidance. This is equivalent to 22% of its tax revenue per annum.• The average effective tax rate for foreign-owned multinational corporations was 11.1% in 2020, lower than the 12.5% headline rate.• The tax loss is equivalent…
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Pandemic Unemployment Payments (PUP): Trends and Sectoral Impacts
— June 9, 2021

Valesca Lima, UCD Geary Institute Key Points The PUP has helped to mitigate the earnings shock caused by loss of income during the pandemic. From its implementation in March 2020 until the end of April 2021, PUP payments have been made to over 860,000 claimants in Ireland with a cost to the exchequer of over…
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Trends in Social Housing Supports: Housing Assistance Payment (HAP)
— May 12, 2021

Valesca Lima, UCD Geary Institute Introduction The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) is a type of rental support provided by local authorities. Under this scheme, local authorities make a monthly payment to landlords, while HAP tenants pay weekly contributions towards the rent to the Local Authority based on the household income (HAP, 2021). The HAP amount…
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The Impact of the Pandemic on Services Oriented Towards Single Homeless Persons
— April 8, 2021

Valesca Lima, UCD Geary Institute Key Point The Coronavirus pandemic has posed significant challenges for homeless services and for people experiencing homelessness in Ireland. Clusters of Covid-19 have been identified among homeless groups, but the number of cases and deaths has been low. The relative success of the response to the pandemic, with low levels…
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The Pandemic One Year on: Trends and Statistics Between Three Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ireland
— March 10, 2021

Valesca Lima, UCD Geary Institute Key Point Statistics on the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland show that younger people, particularly those aged less than 45, are less likely to be hospitalized when they are infected, and less likely to die due to COVID-19. The number of cases increased dramatically between the first and the third wave…
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