Cillian Murphy spoke at NUI Galway today to 200 secondary school students about the importance of empathy in his work as an actor, as part of Youth Empathy Day.

The Transition Year students from six secondary schools in Galway, Dublin and Tipperary gathered in NUI Galway for the event hosted by the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre.

All of the students are taking part in a new pilot education programme called Activating Social Empathy, which supports adolescents to learn empathy in schools.

Actor and Patron of the Centre, Cillian Murphy spoke to the students about the importance of empathy in his work as an actor.

Students attending the Youth Empathy Day travelled from CBC Monkstown in Dublin; Comeragh College, County Tipperary; Grange Community College, Donaghmede, County Dublin; Dominican College Galway; Stratford College, Rathfarnham, Dublin and Galway Community College.

Speaking about the event, Cillian Murphy said: “You can’t really be an actor without employing empathy as a very important tool in your arsenal.

“If I can help young people to see that everyone has a different story and everyone’s story is valuable, hopefully that will help them in the future.

“It’s helping kids help themselves.

“It seems to me that if we’re going to help or encourage young people to behave in a certain way, then they should be at the forefront of it, and they should be telling us how they feel and telling us what they need, which is what this day is about.”

 Photo: Jason Clarke

Professor John Laffey was one of five recipients of the Science Foundation Ireland ‘President of Ireland Future Research Leaders Awards’ – worth a whopping €1.54 million.

Laffey, Professor of Anaesthesia at the School of Medicine in NUI Galway, was honoured by President Michael D. Higgins at a special ceremony in Áras an Uachtaráin.

Professor Laffey is also a Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine at Galway University Hospital.

His basic and translational research is focused on critical illnesses, particularly sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome.

His major research focus is the investigation of the therapeutic potential of cell therapies for these devastating illnesses.

Commenting on his prestigious award, worth €1.54 million, Professor John Laffey, said: “This Future Research Leaders Award will enable me to relocate my research group to CÚRAM, joining a dynamic group of researchers with leading edge expertise in regenerative medicine, immunology and tissue engineering.

“This world class environment will facilitate the discovery of the potential for stem cells to enhance the response of the immune system to severe sepsis,” he said.

Congratulating Professor Laffey on his award, Professor Abhay Pandit, Scientific Director of CÚRAM at NUI Galway, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have someone of John’s calibre join the team at CÚRAM. His experience and expertise will help drive the research agenda at the centre and fits exactly with the strategic aims of CÚRAM, to improve quality of life for patients living with chronic illness.”

A Galway West Senator has hit out at Galway County Council and Galway City Council for their treatment of Travellers in Galway.

Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh was speaking in the Seanad when he said that members of the Travelling community, including sick children, are treated in a disgraceful manner.

“In the past, we have seen the recognition of Traveller ethnicity but on the ground, and particularly in Galway city, one sees an appalling situation where young Traveller families with children who are quite ill, and who come under both brackets of disability and Traveller, are treated in a disgraceful manner,” Senator Ó Clochartiagh said.

“They are not being provided with proper accommodation.  It is a damning indictment of Galway City Council and Galway County Council that they have not put any appropriate accommodation in place for those families. It is really important,” the Independent Senator said.

Ó Clochartaigh also brought up the issue of direct provision, saying that it has nothing to do with there being a backlog of applications, but that the system in itself is'”an abuse of human rights’.

“This House and the other House need to take that on board and ensure that we address these issues around the direct provision system and put in place another, proper system,” he said.

Catherine Connolly TD has said that a lack of appropriate governance structures is one of the reasons behind the closure of Time 4 Us which is due to happen by the end of March.

The Galway West TD says she contacted both the Board of the service and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Katherine Zappone to clarify the situation.

In response to Deputy Connolly’s question the Minister confirmed the background of the service and the number of families using it, unfortunately however the reply didn’t deal with the kernel of the question, namely what plans have been put in place to ensure that Time4Us remains open.

The response from a member of the Board of Time4Us confirmed that the core difficulties are the lack of appropriate governance structures along with appropriate skill mix on the Board.

Deputy Connolly said that these reasons, while important, should not lead to the closure of this essential service but should be dealt with in a practical and pragmatic manner.

In the event and given the outcry at the proposed closure, the directors arranged a meeting with the elected representatives of Galway last Monday with a view to further clarification on the matter.

Cartherine Connolly TD said that it was agreed by all present that a solution has to be found to keep this service open. In this regard Deputies Catherine Connolly, Hildegarde Naughten and Anne Rabbitte agreed to raise the proposed closure as a matter of urgency in the Dáil. Minister of State Seán Kyne agreed to arrange an urgent meeting with Minister Katherine Zappone and the Directors of the service are to have a meeting with Galway representatives in the next few weeks.

Midlands North-West MEP Matt Carthy has welcomed the publication last night of the Financial Secrecy Index by the Tax Justice Network – which revealed a problem with financial secrecy in many countries.

The MEP, who has been a member of the European Parliament’s inquiry into the Panama Papers, noted that he participated in fact-finding missions to the two jurisdictions topping the list during the course of the inquiry – Switzerland and the US.

“The scale of the financial secrecy problem revealed by this index and report show the need for urgent internationally coordinated action to stop tax dodging and money-laundering,” said the Sinn Féin MEP.

He said that he fully supports the call by development agencies, NGOs and tax justice activists for an urgent summit to be called under the United Nations to deal with financial secrecy decisively.

“The Tax Justice Network has published its first Financial Secrecy Index since 2015 after monitoring major global trends in illicit financial flows.

“This index is unique as it ranks states not only according to their level of secrecy but also by the actual volume of the offshore financial activities taking place there.

“Two EU member states – Luxembourg and Germany – as well as British dependencies the Cayman Islands and Guernsey are all in the top 10 of the worst jurisdictions for financial secrecy.

“This is another demonstration that the lists developed by the European Commission for identifying tax havens and jurisdictions at risk of money-laundering are not fit for purpose as they automatically exclude EU member states

“The US has jumped again to second place in the list, with states such as Delaware successfully marketing itself to 66 per cent of Fortune 500 companies as a financial secrecy centre.

“The 2018 index demonstrates two important facts – firstly, it is not only small tropical islands that are facilitating illicit financial flows. The major financial centres of the world, including the US and the EU, are major players in the offshore game. Secondly, they have failed to clean up their act under the current international legal framework,” Matt Carthy added.