Apr
29
10:30
Health and Mindfulness
Seán Ó Tarpaigh
- 📅Tuesday, April 29, 2025
- 🕥10:30 - 12:30
- 🏟Newtownpark Pastoral Centre (map)
Seán Ó Tarpaigh is a psychotherapist with a practice in Monkstown. In this talk Seán will explain what Mindfulness is and dispel some of the misconceptions about it. He will explain the importance of the breath and how we can better understand and deal with the constant stream of thoughts which "the flesh is heir to." He will explore how much of what we tell ourselves, and consequently much of our behaviour, is sometimes just a matter of habit. He will emphasise the importance of heartfulness as well as mindfulness on the path to a calmer, more serene relationship with ourselves, and ultimately with the world. His talk will include some simple practice of Heart and Mindfulness
May
13
10:30
Electoral Systems and their Consequences
David Farrell
- 📅Tuesday, May 13, 2025
- 🕥10:30 - 12:30
- 🏟Newtownpark Pastoral Centre (map)
Electoral systems — the mechanisms that determine how our politicians are elected into office — come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. (A little known fact, for example, is that Ireland’s Single Transferable Vote system is hardly used by any other country.) This presentation uses data from the most recent edition of my book on this topic, to review the different types of electoral systems in use across more than 75 of the world’s democracies, examining the main ways in which electoral systems can vary, and what consequences this can have for a country’s political system.
Professor Farrell MRIA, holds the Chair of Political Science at University College Dublin. A specialist in the study of representation, electoral systems and parties, his recent books include: Electoral Systems: A Global Perspective (Bloomsbury, 2024), The Oxford Handbook of Irish Politics (Oxford University Press, 2021), and Deliberative Mini-Publics: Core Design Features (Bristol University Press, 2021). Other books include the award-winning Political Parties and Democratic Linkage: How Parties Organize Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2011). Much of his current work is focused on deliberative mini-publics (DMPs), including advice to a number of government-led DMP processes in Ireland, UK, Belgium, as well as supporting the work of one of the EU-wide citizens’ panels during the 2020-21 Conference on the Future of Europe. From 2021-24, he was Chair of Europe’s largest political science association, the European Consortium for Political Research.
May
20
11:00
Walking Tour of Liberties
Frank Tracy
- 📅Tuesday, May 20, 2025
- 🕥11:00 - 01:00
THE LIBERTIES
The Liberties of St Thomas and Donore was originally an area outside Dublin's medieval city walls that was granted exemption from city ordinances and taxes. The name Liberties dates to the 12th century when the Abbey of St Thomas the Martyr was established here by King Henry II and granted extensive lands along with tax exemptions, privileges and powers to control trade within the Liberties, independent of the City of Dublin authorities. The Abbey of St Thomas the Martyr was dissolved and plundered, circa 1541, by direction of King Henry VIII. The Liberties of St Thomas and Donore were then granted by the king to his associate William Brabazon, Earl of Meath, and they became known as the Earl of Meath’s Liberties. The Earl of Meath governed the Liberties until 1842 when it was dissolved and absorbed into the City of Dublin under Dublin Corporation. The Liberties has always been, and still is, a distinct area of Dublin City with its own unique history, traditions and characters.
This ramble winds its way through the Liberties visiting locations of historic interest with tales of the many notable events, personages and entertaining characters associated with the area.
The ramble takes circa two hours at strolling pace plus two stops for light refreshment/ comfort breaks. The area is well serviced by bus routes affording opportunities for individuals to drop out, if needed.
Assemble at the Four Courts stop on the Red Luas line at 11.00am. (Those participating can travel to the city centre by bus, tram or Dart and then get Red Luas to Four Courts stop).
May
22
11:00
Walking Tour of Liberties
Frank Tracy
- 📅Thursday, May 22, 2025
- 🕥11:00 - 01:00
THE LIBERTIES
The Liberties of St Thomas and Donore was originally an area outside Dublin's medieval city walls that was granted exemption from city ordinances and taxes. The name Liberties dates to the 12th century when the Abbey of St Thomas the Martyr was established here by King Henry II and granted extensive lands along with tax exemptions, privileges and powers to control trade within the Liberties, independent of the City of Dublin authorities. The Abbey of St Thomas the Martyr was dissolved and plundered, circa 1541, by direction of King Henry VIII. The Liberties of St Thomas and Donore were then granted by the king to his associate William Brabazon, Earl of Meath, and they became known as the Earl of Meath’s Liberties. The Earl of Meath governed the Liberties until 1842 when it was dissolved and absorbed into the City of Dublin under Dublin Corporation. The Liberties has always been, and still is, a distinct area of Dublin City with its own unique history, traditions and characters.
This ramble winds its way through the Liberties visiting locations of historic interest with tales of the many notable events, personages and entertaining characters associated with the area.
The ramble takes circa two hours at strolling pace plus two stops for light refreshment/ comfort breaks. The area is well serviced by bus routes affording opportunities for individuals to drop out, if needed.
Assemble at the Four Courts stop on the Red Luas line at 11.00am. (Those participating can travel to the city centre by bus, tram or Dart and then get Red Luas to Four Courts stop).
Sep
09
10:30
Enduring Power of Attorney & Assisted Decision Making
Áine Flynn
- 📅Tuesday, September 9, 2025
- 🕥10:30 - 12:30
- 🏟Newtownpark Pastoral Centre (map)
The focus of this session will be on the importance of making enduring powers of attorney and advance healthcare directives.
Áine Flynn is a solicitor and former senior partner in Dublin firm KOD Lyons, specialising in public interest law. She has been a member of the Human Rights Committee of the Law Society since 2012 and is a previous member of the Law Society Mental Health and Capacity Task Force. In October 2017 she was appointed inaugural Director of the Decision Support Service under the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015.
Sep
23
10:30
Who were the Huguenots?
Ruth Whelan
- 📅Tuesday, September 23, 2025
- 🕥10:30 - 12:30
- 🏟Newtownpark Pastoral Centre (map)
Ruth was Chair of French at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, where she worked from 1997 to 2022. She is the author of over one hundred publications, including books, journal articles, book chapters and encyclopaedia entries on the religious, political, intellectual and literary culture of the Huguenots during the Second Refuge, between 1680 and 1730. She is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and the University of Paris; she was appointed lecturer and later senior lecturer in French at Trinity College Dublin (1984-1997). She was an invited visiting professor at several continental European Universities, most recently at the University of Geneva. Her book Le voyage extraordinaire d’Élie Neau: du forçat pour la foi au catéchiste des esclaves (The extraordinary voyage of Élie Neau: from Protestant galley slave to catechist of slaves) was published this year by Champion in Paris.
Nov
03
10:30
Zeno of Verona and the first Christian horoscope
Mike Norris
- 📅Monday, November 3, 2025
- 🕥10:30 - 12:30
- 🏟Newtownpark Pastoral Centre (map)
Mike Norris studied physics at UCD in the 1960’s. He worked in several occupations before becoming chief technical officer at HEAnet, Ireland’s academic and research network. He also served on the boards of INEX (Dublin) and RIPE NCC (Amsterdam).
On retirement, he studied Classics at UCD, TCD, and the University of Verona. He had papers published in Italy and Greece. He completed his doctorate at UCD in 2023.
In 425, exactly 1700 years ago, a council of bishops met in Nicaea. Strongly encouraged by the emperor Constantine, they came up with a brief formula of words, the Nicene Creed. Those baptised as Christians would recite the Creed as a statement of their new belief system. Zeno was an early adopter of this Creed. As bishop of Verona, he instructed many converts on its meaning. He realised, though, that he was up against centuries of pagan tradition and practice. This included astrology which, with its emblematic zodiac and its claims to predict the future, ran counter to Christian beliefs. Zeno’s sermons include the earliest Christian homily on the signs of the zodiac. Rather than condemning the cult outright, he gave a Christian version of the signs in that sermon. In doing so, he undermined the zodiacal tradition and hinted at a Christian replacement, still practiced in some countries today. The sermon shows the bishop’s knowledge of his subject, his understanding of the Veronese people, and the subtle way in which he maintains a fine balance between Church and state.
Nov
18
10:30
Simple strategies to protect the ageing brain from dementia.
Marina Annetta Lynch
- 📅Tuesday, November 18, 2025
- 🕥10:30 - 12:30
- 🏟Newtownpark Pastoral Centre (map)
Marina will talk about factors that contribute to dementia, and especially Alzheimer’s disease These can be classified as modifiable and non-modifiable risks. The talk will concentrate on the modifiable risks, explain why they are risks, describe how the risks can be mitigated and how the mitigation works
Marina Lynch Is Fellow Emeritus in the School of Medicine (Physiology), Trinity College Dublin. She held a lectureship in Trinity and, since 2006, a Personal Chair in Cellular Neuroscience. She was Director of the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience 2006 and 2009 and is currently Chair of the Board of the Institute. She was elected to membership of the Royal Irish Academy in May 2009.
Her research, mainly preclinical, focussed on determining the changes that occur in the brain with age, especially those that contributed to the pathology that characterises Alzheimer’s disease. Most recent work concerned the sex-related differences in Alzheimer’s disease.