Today’s Ireland is wrestling with an unexpected scarcity: a scarcity of belonging. As digital life expands, the infrastructures that once offered connection – shared spaces, local rituals, everyday community interactions – have thinned out. We see the consequences everywhere, including rising levels of loneliness and anxiety experienced by young people, reflected in recent Eurobarometer research.
By Jody Moore-Ponce, Mary O’Shaughnessy and Mara Van Twuijver
For those already on the margins, especially people leaving prison, this social fragmentation becomes a chasm. Former prisoners step back into a society where the formal sentence may be finished – but the social stigma continues indefinitely.
The result, as recent CSO data shows, is predictable: – 42% of people released from custody reoffend within a year, rising to 62% within three years. These cannot be understood as individual failures; they arise from the absence of the societal structures that should support people at their most vulnerable.
And it is in everyone’s interest that people with criminal histories are supported to build stable, contributing lives – because reintegration strengthens the whole community.
With new European evidence emerging, this is a timely moment to examine the role of work-integration social enterprises (WISEs). Fortunately, Irish policy increasingly recognises their importance and, because much state support flows through labour-market activation schemes, Ireland has developed a strong WISE landscape.
Recent UK research by Rebecca Jayne Oswald also highlights how WISEs can provide the stability, flexibility and holistic support needed for people with complex needs to move toward sustained employment and desistance.
People emerging from prison often carry labels they cannot peel off: ‘ex-prisoner’, ‘risky’, ‘a bad bet for employment’. These lingering stigmas push them into a kind of social limbo. They are no longer incarcerated but not yet permitted to belong. This is what anthropologists call liminality – the in-between zone where one identity has ended and another has not yet been entered, the liminality experienced by people exiting prison is largely unsupported.
Recent RTÉ reporting on prison conditions has again highlighted the urgency. Overcrowding has pushed prisons far beyond capacity; spaces built for 80 or 90 people now routinely hold more than 220. Services that should support reintegration – education, training, medical care, psychological treatment, and access to probation – cannot function under such strain.
Some positive initiatives do exist – such as UCC’s Inside-Out prison education programme – but overcrowding limits their reach.
WISEs operate in the post-release space – the gap between custody and full participation in community and employment. In Ireland, they intentionally inhabit this in-between space, offering stability, structure and belonging at a point when these are most fragile. Many operate as profit-for-purpose enterprises, combining financial sustainability with job creation and social value.
In Dublin, initiatives such as PACE’s Mug Shot Café (highlighted here and below) and the enterprises developed by Spéire Nua show what this looks like in practice.
“Everybody deserves a second chance” – Ann’s life after prison
The scale of the sector is significant. According to the ENSIE Impact-WISEs Report, which came out in November, 2,604 work-integration social enterprises across Europe supported 214,349 disadvantaged workers in 2024, achieving 66% positive outcomes – including nearly half transitioning into employment.
Ireland’s National Social Enterprise Baseline Exercise likewise highlights the importance of Active Labour Market Programmes in sustaining the country’s estimated 4,335 social enterprises, with 60% of those with paid staff employing people through these programmes.
CONCLUSION
WISEs cannot do this work in isolation. As Ireland reflects on reintegration and social inclusion, there is a valuable opportunity to recognise WISEs as key partners in this landscape.
The State should be asking: How can we support and strengthen these bridge-building organisations? What can we learn from them?
Reintegration is not a personal test. It is a collective responsibility.
JARGON BUSTER
What is desistance?
– Desistance is when a person or group cease a specific behaviour, for example criminal re-offending.
What is a social enterprise?
– The National Social Enterprise Policy (2019–2022) and the Trading for Impact Strategy (2024–2027) define social enterprises as businesses with a core social mission, including training and labour-market integration.
What is a work-integration social enterprise (WISE)?
– A work-integration social enterprise (WISE) is a business that sells goods and services while also providing training and employment opportunities to people experiencing marginalisation.
Calls for legal reform to help people find jobs after prison
