Chornobyl Mother sculpture, 40th anniversary of nuclear disaster
There has been significant publicity about the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl/Chornobyl (the latter being the now UN recognised Ukrainian spelling) nuclear disaster. Events included the unveiling in Cork of a Chornobyl Mother sculpture marking the work of Chernobyl Children International (CCI) based in Cork which was founded by Adi Roche. https://www.flickr.com/photos/innateireland/55236435943/in/dateposted/ At a commemoration ceremony at Áras an Uachtaráin, President Catherine Connolly said “€110 million in aid delivered to children, families and communities still living with consequences they did not choose. 26,500 children given rest and recuperation with host families in Ireland. Neither pandemic nor war has interrupted that work. I want to say to Adi, and to every staff member and volunteer of CCI: what you have built matters. What you do matters. This country is proud of you, and I am honoured to stand with you.” The CCI website is at https://www.chernobyl-international.com/
Big boosts for arms production in the North: Thales, government
The largest arms company in Ireland, Thales, has announced that their ‘third site’ will actually be a development at their existing second site near Crossgar, Co Down; this is in addition to their existing, primary site at Castlereagh, Belfast and total employment will increase to around 900. Meanwhile the British government is ploughing £50 million (more than £26 per head) into a Northern Ireland ‘Defence Growth Deal’; this will help small and medium enterprises and start ups to enter the ‘defence’ supply chain and in addition to that funding they will work with industry and colleges to provide potential workers with ‘defence-based skills’ in engineering and technology. Word search for more sad details.
l Regarding Northern Ireland historical exports to Israel of security-related equipment, in a company backed by Invest NI, see e.g. https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2026/04/22/invest-ni-israel/ and https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1257824469899516&set=pcb.1257824516566178
Afri Doolough Famine Walk
The moving and memorable Doolough Famine Walk organised by Afri in Co Mayo takes place on Saturday 13th June, meeting in Louisburgh from 10am where the opening ceremony will take place before participants are bussed to Delphi Lodge to walk the 18 km back to Louisburgh (shuttle car will pick up those unable to walk the whole way). This event commemorates a real and tragic famine walk in 1849 but linking this with realities in the world today. See https://www.afri.ie/category/afri-doolough-famine-walk-2026/ for more info and booking link.
Glencree is recruiting
The Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation in Co Wicklow is recruiting for a financial controller, and a couple of posts for the NextGen4Peace joint project with Mediation Northern Ireland to be partly based in Belfast – a Programme & Communications Administrator and a Monitoring & Evaluation/Assistant Programme Manager. They are also looking for volunteer Trustees to support and guide the work of the Glencree Visitors Centre. Details on all these are on the website at https://glencree.ie/
Triple Lock fact sheet / Galway Triple Lock meeting
A clear and concise factsheet from Keep Ireland Neutral (KIN) on the Triple Lock is available at https://keepirelandneutral.ie/knowledge-base/ including a dissection of government claims on the need to get rid of it. If you want an excellent summary on the issue this is it. See also https://www.instagram.com/neutrality_now/
l Galway Quakers have organised a meeting at 8pm on Thursday 7th May on Neutrality, the Triple Lock and the Quaker Peace Testimony; this takes place at the Mechanics Institute, Middle Street, Galway with speakers Éamon Ó Cuiv, Karen Devine, and John Lannon. Donations accepted for Quaker Faith in Action work in Gaza.
MNI training: Mediation and more
Mediation Northern Ireland have published their open training schedule for the next year which includes multiple courses on Constructive Professional Dialogue (1 day, online), Principled Negotiation (3 days, online and in person), Workplace Conflict Management (1 day, in person), Mediation Training and Practice (8 days, online and in person). Full details are available on their website at https://mediationni.org/ where you can also find out about the mediation services they offer.
Financial Justice Ireland: New director, wealth tax webinar
Hilary Darcy is the new director of Financial Justice Ireland (FJI) she was formerly FJI’s Global Citizenship Education Coordinator; she has replaced Thomas McDonagh. FJI (formerly Debt and Development Coalition Ireland) is a global financial justice organisation working for a financial system that serves the needs of all people, rather than just some people, and which does not take the planet for granted. They have a webinar entitled “Who owns the future? Wealth taxes, fairness and power” taking place 1-2pm on Wednesday 13th May; this is aimed primarily at teachers/educators and the speaker will be Dr. Tom McDonnell, co-director of the Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI) and a lead researcher on Oxfam Ireland’s recent report on wealth inequality. https://www.financialjustice.ie/
ICCL: National identity card question, encryption
Issues which ICCL/Irish Council for Civil Liberties are continuing to deal with include the move by the government to turn the Public Services Card (PSC) into a national identity card – despite last year the Data Protection Commission (DPC) finding that the Department of Employment and Social Protection unlawfully processed the facial biometric data of up to 70% of the population over a 15-year period. On 14th April the government announced that it wanted to expand the use of the PSC. As ICCL says, “There has been no public debate about introducing a national identity card and no clear plan has been outlined for how such a system would be developed or governed, or how it would impact Irish society.” See https://www.iccl.ie/press-release/public-services-card-expansion-national-id-card/
l On encryption, “ICCL understands that encryption presents a challenge for law enforcement but this position” [referring to a report by Independent Examiner of Security Legislation Judge George Birmingham] “misunderstands the issue and what’s at stake. Creating “appropriate safeguards” won’t solve the fundamental problem – any piercing of encryption on the supposed basis of creating pathways solely for An Garda Síochána introduces vulnerabilities that would be exploited by others, ultimately undermining the security and privacy of everyone.” See https://www.iccl.ie/news/we-cant-safeguard-problems-breaking-encryption/
CGE – Responses to the meta crisis; IDEA – Education for liberation
A new edition of CGE’s Policy & Practice: A Development Education Review, has just been published on the theme “Pedagogical Responses to the Meta Crisis: The Role of Development Education”. The entire issue is available in an open access format at: www.developmenteducationreview.com CGE/Centre for Global Education website is at https://www.centreforglobaleducation.com/
l The Irish Development Education Association’s 2026 Annual Conference will take place in The Grand Hotel Malahide, Co. Dublin, on Wednesday 24th June. The theme this year is Education for Liberation: GCE* in an age of Crisis. *Global Citizenship Education. See https://www.ideaonline.ie/idea-annual-conference-2026
Feasta: Finding steady ground in a time of crisis
Feasta has an online workshop Thursday 14th May 2026 from 7pm-8:30pm which aims provide a space to understand our predicament in relation to current world crises, to process our emotions and to explore how we can cultivate courage, and emotional resilience to act constructively in response. The format consists of two short inputs, from John Sharry and Oana Marian, and two small supportive breakout discussions. Participation is free. See https://www.feasta.org/ or book at https://tinyurl.com/bdfcbxvp
Judgement later in Supreme Court Shannon Airport case
It may be some months before the five judge Supreme Court makes a judgement in an appeal concerning the case of Dan Dowling who with Edward Horgan was involved in an action at Shannon airport nine years ago. The two men had been acquitted of criminal damage but found guilty of trespass. The issue in the appeal is whether the defence of necessity, to protect lives, applies to the charge of trespass with alleged intent to cause criminal damage. https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/courts/2026/04/16/peace-activist-tells-court-trespass-at-us-aircraft-in-shannon-was-to-protect-lives/
Amnesty on NI human rights, journalist murder case
Human rights protections came under severe strain in Northern Ireland during 2025, according to Amnesty International’s annual report, The State of the World’s Human Rights, published in April. Legacy issues, unlawful PSNI surveillance, attacks on press freedom and record levels of racist violence have contributed to what Amnesty described as a shameful year of human rights failure. See https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/pol10/0320/2026/en/ Meanwhile there has been a call on the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland to release its long-delayed report into the investigation of the brutal murder of journalist Martin O’Hagan in 2001. AI’s 2025 report on threats against journalists in NI is available at https://www.amnesty.org.uk/knowledge-hub/all-resources/occupational-hazard-protect-journalists-in-northern-ireland-report/
Global appeal to nine nuclear states
World Beyond War has a global appeal addressed to the presidents, prime ministers, and legislatures of China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
It is an appeal from the people of the world to these nine nuclear governments to each commit to a nuclear policy of no first strike, not ever, not for any reason; and to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and to collectively agree to immediately begin disarming on a schedule to completely eliminate all nuclear weapons from the earth no later than August 6, 2045. https://tinyurl.com/4v7nwby6 https://worldbeyondwar.org/
Dalradian gold mining enquiry ongoing
The public enquiry concerning Dalradian’s gold mining plans in the Sperrins began on 13th April and may extend for a couple of months with a decision stretching into 2027. You can keep up to date with community scrutiny through https://linktr.ee/saveoursperrins and the podcast at https://dontmineus.com/the-sperrins-podcast/ From the latter we quote from the 25th April report which laments the lack of information; “There is no current feasibility study underpinning this project, none, none at all. Instead what we are told is the entire economic case is based on a detailed planned mine which turns out to be a spreadsheet – a spreadsheet that hasn’t been published, hasn’t been independently tested, and hasn’t been seen by most people in the room.” It goes on to detail the lack of detailed scrutiny by the government department and that “There is a serious gap right across the board. We are talking about missing reports, incomplete environmental statements, data that hasn’t been available to the public, and even reference to a report from the University of Edinburgh which simply doesn’t exist.” It questions about confusion on whether gold is 99% of the value of extracted materials, or multiple minerals, and mentions waste that lasts in perpetuity but a closure plan that only lasts for 15 years. Another question is how many jobs would be local. INNATE’s A4 mini-poster on goldmining is available in the poster section of the website https://innatenonviolence.org/wp/posters/