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I GREW UP in a family where my parents instilled social justice values in me and my siblings. Of course, they never used that term – I’m not sure they’d even understand what it means today.
But it’s not surprising that my sister now manages an advocacy service for people with disabilities, my brother is a probation officer, and I have spent much of my career promoting human rights and trying to positively influence public policy and laws.
My interest in prisoners’ rights was sparked both by my brother’s career and my own experiences eight years ago, when, as the Communications Manager at the Ombudsman for Children’s Office, I worked on a ground-breaking project with a group of teenage boys incarcerated in St. Patrick’s Institution.
In Ireland, anyone under 18 years of age is legally considered a child. These 16 and 17-year-old children were incarcerated in an adult prison and denied access to the complaints process of the Children’s Ombudsman.
However, the Ombudsman for Children’s Office was established under a very powerful piece of legislation that obliged the Office to ask children and young people their views on issues that mattered to them. Emily Logan, the first Ombudsman for Children was incredibly progressive and tenacious in the promotion of children’s rights and welfare.
Because of both these things, we were able to negotiate with St. Patrick’s Institution and the Irish Prison Service to specifically talk to the boys about their experience of being in St. Pat’s. What we heard was really profound.
The boys told us, with humour and honesty, what daily life was like for them; their hopes; their dreams and, most poignantly, their fears.
We saw them for what they were: scared kids who acted out and hurt others, and often themselves too.
I knew we needed to find a way to communicate their stories and vulnerability to policymakers, legislators and the wider public. In addition to a policy report, we produced a DVD using drawings by the boys themselves and got actors to narrate their actual words.
The impact was unprecedented: the then Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter, changed the law to allow the Ombudsman for Children investigate complaints from the boys in St. Pat’s, and newly detained boys were sent to Oberstown Children Detention Campus. Eventually, St. Pat’s as an institution was shut down.
In 2015 I became the Communications Director at SOLAS, the Further Education and Training Authority. SOLAS is a progressive public body, where we’re encouraged to be innovative and explore creative approaches to tackling issues.
My job is to promote an appreciation of further education and training as a great post-secondary option. This is how I discovered TED.
The first TEDx (independently organised TED talks) event I managed was all about re-imagining Further Education and Training. It was a great success and I got the TEDx bug.
At an event for TEDx organisers in London 18 months ago, I was fascinated to hear about a TEDx event that was held in a prison in Leicester. It tapped back into my experiences with the Ombudsman for Children’s Office, and St. Patrick’s Institution.
I decided at that moment that I would help facilitate the first TEDx Talk in an Irish Prison.
Back in Ireland, I approached the Dóchas Centre – and subsequently the Irish Prison Service – with trepidation: I assumed we would be met with a conservative response.
I was completely wrong. The Irish Prison Service and Mountjoy Prison welcomed the idea with open arms.
We agreed that the event would be held in the chapel in Mountjoy with its amazing acoustics and stunning stained-glass window.
The theme was re-integration: ‘Beyond Walls, from Custody to Community’.
SOLAS, through Education and Training Boards, helps fund prison education in Ireland, offering over 700 courses annually. Education is important, but without the prospect of meaningful employment on release – it’s hard to see how ex-offenders can successfully transition back into society.
We wanted our TEDx talk to challenge prevailing attitudes and spark a conversation about what society can do to support offenders beyond the prison walls.
The speakers were handpicked and included an ex-offender, a probation officer, the Mountjoy Governor and Dublin GAA star Philly McMahon. We were thrilled when the inspiring Norah Casey agreed to be our MC.
After weeks of working with speaking coaches, and hours of practices and rewrites, the eight speakers were ready to stand on the famous TED red dot and present to a packed chapel.
Each of the 100-odd guests was handpicked too.
Prisoners, senior policymakers, politicians, activists, education-providers and employers sat shoulder to shoulder in rows of wooden pews.
Hairs stood on end as the SOLAS workplace choir joined the Mountjoy choir on stage at the half-time interval.
As the poignant chorus of ‘The Auld Triangle’ reverberated around the chapel, it was hard not to become emotional: at that moment, we all felt the incredible privilege of witnessing a ground-breaking event; and something shifted in the room.
We suddenly saw the humanity, not just the crimes of the prisoners on stage, singing in harmony with the SOLAS staff choir.
When it was the turn of ex-offender Wayne Harte to speak, he delivered some hard-hitting messages for all of us.
For the first time that evening, people became uncomfortable in their seats as this bright, high academic achiever told us that – despite his impressive list of qualifications, work and life experience – he struggled to get even a job interview because of his criminal past.
Phones weren’t allowed in the prison, but we trended on Twitter later that night anyway. That was the first hint of the impact we think this very special event has had.
I have spent the days since Tuesday talking to many employers and policymakers about the changes we would like to see as well as exploring the next steps.
I am extremely grateful to the Irish Prison Service and the Governors of Dóchas and Mountjoy for humouring a woman who wanted to talk to them about an idea she heard in London.
Nikki Gallagher is Director of Communications and Secretariat at SOLAS where she is responsible for governance, public affairs and communications.
Prior to this, she spent over a decade at the Ombudsman for Children’s Office promoting children’s rights and welfare.
She is the Chair of BeLonGTo, Ireland’s largest LGBTI+ youth organisation. She also played a key role in the Together for Yes campaign.
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What is the point of commissioning these reports if the findings are not to be made public? Cover up for, protection of, and no one ever held accountable is always the outcome.
Who is colluding with whom to keep truth hidden, and WHY.
Stop baptising your children into an organisation with the worst human rights record of the last 1,500 years.
@Orla Smith: what are your thoughts about the 207 people murdered in Sri Lanka. It’s just that its becoming very obvious daily that you have a distinctive lust for hatred for a particular people of a particular religion.
@Dathi O Nualláin: Apologies for cutting in but my own personal thoughts is that they deserve better than for their tragic deaths to be used by a Catholic church apologist as a ‘whataboutery’ deflection vehicle
@The Risen: ah look , you do that yourself, it’s a useful tactic to say someone else is doing it. Apologies for cutting across , yeah right.
@Dathi O Nualláin: Example please of me doing it?
@The Risen: maybe, instead of rising you might just lie down and give your bias & bile a rest.
@Liam Mernagh: Surely a devout Christian like yourself is not advising somebody to not rise on easter Sunday??
@The Risen: defending the states involvement with mother and baby Homes. One day soon all of the nonsense you guys spew out is going to come back and kick you hard. Everytime guaranteed the same bunch of unhappy lefties arrive in the Journal comments section to particular topics and never is would seem , to dawn in them that , they let their opinions know about a Christian religion and the Muslim faith. You dont hide anything, you think everyone is a stupid as you think they are. But most here know exactly what you think.
@Dathi O Nualláin: Post a single comment from me where I have ‘defended the states involvement in mother and baby homes’ or have the decency to withdraw your remark….
Off ya go ….
@Dathi O Nualláin: nice rant. You didn’t come across paranoid and crazy at all. I have an image of you doing push ups, shaving your head into a mohawk and talking to yourself I front of the mirror, “you talking to me?”.
@The Risen: The Risen
6m
Thu 3:12 PM
@Tim Oleary: Which period exactly in the history of the Irish state did the church not firmly have its jackboot on the neck of society?
I’ve a question when did this stop.
@mark d: if that’s the only way you can try to obtain credibility , good luck.
@Dathi O Nualláin: cheers
@Dathi O Nualláin: do you believe that shared responsibility between the State and the Catholic Church reduces culpability of the Church? Simple question.
@Orla Smith:Worst human rights record in the last 1,500 years. I’m not quite sure of that to be honest, one of the worst yes, but “the” worst, no.
@mark d: if that’s a hypothetical question , then my answer is no. But if it’s a shared responsibility they should both be prosecuted and those responsible imprisoned. What do you think? Same question only , do you think it reduces the culpability of the State?
@Orla Smith: gone very quiet, beginning to think you are still here under another avatar.
@Dathi O Nualláin: If that’s the best you can come up with you shouldn’t have bothered. It’s common knowledge the control the Catholic Church had over state apparatus. Difference between you and me is I blame atrocities carried out by the church on the church in the first instance, you point your fingers at everything else.
@Dathi O Nualláin: absolutely not. However, the difference between the state and the Catholic Church is that the state is answerable to the citizenry. The church is not. The church has had and still does have influence over the Irish state. We are talking about an organisation that has been responsible for the rape of children, selling babies, the enslavement and subjugation of women over the last 100 years in this country with minimal accountability. In fact, the church has yet to pay the money they owe to the survivors for sexual abuse. The state paid most the financial costs. This is why it’s important I call out the Catholic Church and argue against those who try to lessen their culpability through whataboutism.
@Dathi O Nualláin: whataboutery by a sad apologist does not justify either the disgusting action of the Catholic Church nor does it honour those poor people in Sri Lanka . Shame on you.
@Ian Phillip Creaner: that comment an obvious instance of back door hypocracy.
@mark d: you say the church still has influence of over the state, that doesn’t add up given the recent push for abortion and same sex marriage. If the Church is obligated to pay victims, they should. You waffling on about whataboutery are doing the same thing here. I think you are big time wrong about the states relationship with the church, it has changed but this relationship is about covering the backsides now. Dont you condemn/ acknowledge all of the similar abuses that take place outside the church? Or do you think it’s only exclusively a Catholic church thing. Aren’t secular atheists or anyone in between subject to scrutiny also. ?
@The Risen: Not so, you still are saying the state, is like an innocent observer. I say the church is responsible firstly for the abuses but the state ,even while they had knowledge of this did nothing. The thing about this is, is that the present state doesn’t want that kind of investigation, in case it turns up something that dont want made public knowledge. I want the truth. All of it , and I dont give a monkies who is involved, I want them exposed.
@Dathi O Nualláin: that’s a straw man argument. The Catholic Church does still have influence over the state as it has control of most of the schools. Education is the key to control. Most of the population from the age of 5 are taught religious education, primarily the catholic faith. Mixing religion with traditional education gives the appearance of equivalence between religious teaching and core subjects. This maintains the church influence of society. In effect it is conditioning people to be Catholic, this is further reinforced by the traditions and customs such as communion and confirmation, once again is down through a lot of schools. You accuse me of whataboutary yet there was none in my previous comment……
@Dathi O Nualláin: ……You then follow up your rebuttal by saying what about those outside of the catholic faith….you lost all credibility there.
@Dathi O Nualláin: re your claim that recent results in the referendum have shown the church does not have influence, this is another argument that holds little water. People in Ireland have never had so much access to contrary points of views in the history of the state. This has led to a softening of public view. The church still has a lot of influence in this country.
@Dathi O Nualláin: I absolutely agree with you on your point that all involved must be exposed. But as I stated earlier, the state is accountable to the citizens but the church is only accountable to itself. This is why it’s important to remove their ability to influence society with the level of power that they have.
@The Risen: Who told you what I am or am not, or are you making your usual erroneous assumptions.
As for rising on Easter Sunday, you can and I’m sure you have pleased yourself and as far as It bothers me, you don’t have to worry.
@mark d: i dont really mind what you think. Itsa very obvious trait of thise who are not christians to avoid looking at thenselves when the tricky questions are asked. Even being silent when asked a question
@Dathi O Nualláin: for example? Your observations of non Christians has to be the greatest example of projection I have ever seen! I have never seen a strident Christian challenge their beliefs. I have literally never seen that.
Simple, leak the report to the media ( I’m sure they kept a copy) job done!
A great little country for cover-up in any part of life.
More like protecting the Judical political class that is complicit in all that is was rotten
@Willie Bill Bryan: I’d guess it’s a wide net that covers many many people in powerful positions. The nuns may have been wearing the jackboots, but the involvement of church officials, civil servants, the medical profession, the judicary and the political office holders is too discomforting for them to reveal.
It’s beyond disgusting what these people have done.
Hitler would have been proud of them and their carry, how dare these people claim to be religious servants and preach to others.
I was reading today that a Fianna fail politician wants the money being earmarked to exhume the children’s bodies in Tuam for forensic examination to instead be used to tackle homelessness.
Stinks of a cover-up.
@The Risen: I told you that days ago, that the state was responsible also. It’s a rabbit hole. A big one.
@Dathi O Nualláin: Would you like to acknowledge that they are covering up the actions of the Catholic church in the first instance?
@The Risen: if you mean the state absolutely the state and church are covering.
Zappone refuses to publish it because it shows all of her lies.
- no babies in septic tank
- no evidence of babies sold to America
- nuns buried babies in underground crypts because the council refused to do their job
Zappone should be sacked but as usual no one will be held to account because they used the lies to whip people up into a frenzy about the church.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/people-staying-silent-on-what-happened-at-tuam-zappone-says-1.3863241?mode=amp
@Red Hen: You’re mixing up 2 completely different Reports.
@Red Hen: change your meds. These ones are note working
@Paul J. Redmond: Fair enough Paul, and thanks for pointing that out.
However my point remains. If this report pointed all of that out and the only headline that was printed was that Zappone thinks people are still hiding something then can you imagine what damning information is in the report that she won’t publish?
That woman is on a witch hunt.
We paid for this investigation with our tax money, it should be published. Survivors need acknowledgement of what they have been through, because I know that there was abuse. The institutes that did their job also need acknowledgment. I suspect that like the report I referenced that there were many failings by the government pointed out in the report and that’s why we’ll never see it.
@Ian Phillip Creaner: at least my comments are on point and legible!
Personal attacks are your fall back position when you don’t have anything intelligent to add to a conversation.
Why is everything about religion. It should be about the treatment of people, whoever they are. People shouldn’t be blown up. Children shouldn’t have died because their mothers weren’t married. Abuse is abuse no matter what
@June Grimes: has anybody any problem with what happens to aborted babies
The count recently went up to 9050 in the ‘Septic Tank’, are people still making it all up.!! Wait until all the lost burial plots are excavated, Oh!! But not it seems even the graves are empty, why’?? Because the poor innocent little children were given to Hospitals for Medical Research.!!
This is a blight on Ireland. Truth will out, but too late for justice to be served.
Cover up? What a surprise…. The Nazis feigned ignorance also.
Zapping a bad egg
I had four misscarrigies in the late 60 th, after reading your report, I wonder did they also go for research?. As I would like to have buried them, but then the doctors were gods.these baby’s were in jars in the sluice room in St finbarr Cork,
have your say