Child Care and Social Care Seminar Series
The Child Care and Social Care Seminar Series provides an opportunity to explore topical issues arising within these fields in Ireland today. Organised by the Department of Humanities, it is planned to organise one seminar per semester. Speakers will be leading experts in their discipline and will offer an opportunity to learn at first hand from those at the cutting edge.
Seminar 2, 19 January 2011
Fergus Finlay, CEO Barnardos
Fergus Finlay is CEO of Barnardos Ireland. A frequent media contributor, he was previously chef de cabinet of the Labour Party and was instrumental in the election of Mary Robinson to the presidency.
Seminar 1, 4 February 2010
Colm O'Gorman: Children's Rights
Colm O’Gorman is one of Ireland’s greatest human rights activists. As a survivor of clerical sexual abuse, he first came to prominence in Ireland by advocating for the rights of victims of sexual abuse. He subsequently founded One in Four, an Irish charity which supports men and women who have been sexually abused or suffered sexual violence. In his role as Director of One in Four, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Ferns Inquiry, the first State investigation into clerical sexual abuse in Ireland. The inquiry investigated the management of child sexual abuse concerns and allegations of abuse by the Catholic Church and by State authorities.
Colm is a regular media commentator and contributor, and has written extensively on social justice and human rights issues. He has made a number of highly acclaimed documentary films, including the BAFTA awarding winning A Family Affair in 2000; Suing the Pope in 2002, and Sex Crimes and The Vatican, which he presented for BBC Panorama in 2006.
His first book, Beyond Belief, was published in 2009 and became an instant bestseller, reaching number one in the Irish non-fiction bestsellers list within a week of its publication.
Colm was named one of the ESB/Rehab People of the Year and received a TV3/Daily Star Best of Irish award in 2002. In 2003, he was named as one of the Sunday Independent/Irish Nationwide People of the Year and, in the same year, he was also awarded the James Larkin Justice Award by the Irish Labour Party for his contribution to social justice in Ireland.
Colm is also a former senator and is currently the Executive Director of Amnesty Ireland.
Through his work as a human rights defender and social justice campaigner, Colm has made history by casting a light on the darker side of life. He has changed lives and brought comfort to the many survivors of sexual abuse who are living with their own experience of this universal crime. By challenging the State, the church and Irish society to recognise and address the issue of child sexual abuse, he has perhaps done more than any other to protect and vindicate the rights of children.
You can watch Colm O'Gorman's lecture here.
