Sherie de Burgh Commemorative Events Series
2025: Sixth Annual Sherie de Burgh Commemorative Event
Children Post Separation – Research and Guidance on Shared Access for Infants and Young Children
The sixth annual Sherie de Burgh commemorative seminar jointly hosted by One Family and the School of Social Work and Social Policy in Trinity College Dublin will explore the experiences of one-parent families in Ireland and reflect on their joint research, which illustrates a practice-to-policy approach and can be accessed here:
Guidance on Contact Time for Infants and Young Children in Separated Families
Event Details
Date: Thursday, 13 February 2025
Time: 5pm – 7pm
Programme
Registration: 5pm – 5.30pm
Seminar: 5.30pm – 7pm
Reception: from 7pm
Location
Trinity Research in Social Sciences (TRiSS)
TRiSS Seminar Room
6th Floor, Sutherland Centre
Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin
Streaming link: available to view on Zoom on the day (link TBC)
Panel
Chair
Dr Catherine Conlon – Assistant Professor, Social Policy School of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity College Dublin.
Speakers
His Honour Judge Geoffrey Shannon – Former Law Society director and current Circuit Court judge, Dr Shannon was Special Rapporteur on Child Protection for the Irish Government 2006-19 and is the author independent report into historical child sex-abuse allegations in St John Ambulance 2023.
Geraldine Kelly – One Family’s Director of Parenting will speak about the research collaboration between One Family and the School of Social Work and Social Policy in TCD and how it illustrates a practice-to-policy approach.
More details to be added shortly.
How to find the event
Sherie de Burgh
Our former colleague, Sherie de Burgh, was instrumental in establishing countrywide access to non-directive crisis pregnancy counselling in Ireland. When abortion was not legally available in Ireland, Sherie de Burgh pioneered ‘Open Line Counselling’ along with other committed counsellors and volunteers to negotiate the grey areas in legislation and support women in the darkest of years. At this time not only was abortion unavailable in Ireland, but information on abortion care providers in Britain was censored.
Many years later, building out of the infrastructure of pregnancy counselling put in place by Sherie and colleagues , Repeal of the 8th Amendment and legalisation of abortion in Ireland changed the landscape of services and prompts consideration of how counselling can now be best situated in the expanded model of care relating to unintended pregnancy and abortion care.
As policy evolved to place counselling centrally in crisis pregnancy support services, Sherie worked as a pregnancy counsellor and service manager in One Family and played a leadership role representing the sector to inform policy and practice developments. She joined One Family in 2004, where she was Director of Counselling Services until her retirement in 2016.
Memorial Fund
In 2020, One Family launched a fund in memory of our friend and former colleague Sherie de Burgh. The fund was established to help to support some of the most vulnerable children and families in the state. The fund focuses on two areas of Sherie’s work that she was particularly passionate about:
- Perinatal therapy: Perinatal therapy provides specialist therapeutic supports for mothers and their babies immediately before and after birth. The therapy works to strengthen lifelong attachments and security between mother and child. This may be particularly beneficial for mothers who have experienced an unplanned or crisis pregnancy, domestic violence or who have practical challenges such as homelessness.
- Financial support for vulnerable families: Sherie worked with some of the most vulnerable children and families in our society; families experiencing homelessness, direct provision, addiction and abuse. The Sherie de Burgh Fund is used to continue her work, helping to support vulnerable children and families when they most need it. The fund may be used for the purchase of school uniforms, fees for education courses or for baby equipment.
The fund is administered by One Family and overseen by our Board of Directors.
Click below to donate to the charitable fund
in memory of Sherie.
“Family and Care Amendments and Beyond – A Critical View of 2024 Referendums”
The fifth annual Sherie de Burgh commemorative seminar jointly hosted by One Family and the School of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity College Dublin examined the upcoming Family and Care referendums and their potential impact on unmarried families and carers in Ireland. You can learn more about the Referendum Campaign here.
The event took place on Thursday 22 February 2024 from 4-6pm in the TRiSS Seminar Room in Trinity College Dublin. This was a hybrid event.
Speakers
Chair: Dr Catherine Conlon, Associate Professor, TCD
Speaker: David Kenny, Professor in Law, TCD
Speaker: Ursula Barry, Emeritus Associate Professor, UCD
Speaker: Mary Kerrigan, Founder of Cherish/One Family
Closing Speaker: Karen Kiernan, CEO of One Family
2023: Fourth Annual Sherie de Burgh Commemorative Event
Reflections on the experience of one-parent families in Ireland
The fourth annual Sherie deBurgh commemorative seminar jointly hosted by One Family and School of Social Work and Social Policy, Trinity College Dublin will explore the experiences of one-parent families in Ireland and reflect on the historical significance of the foundation of Cherish/One Family in 1972. Prof Lindsey Earner-Byrne will give a keynote examining the historical challenges faced by one-parent families, in-particular single mothers, followed by a panel discussion considering the experiences of one-parent families now, and what the state and society can do to support them into the future.
Event details:
Date: Thursday, 23rd February 2023
Time: 6pm – 8pm
Location: TRiSS Seminar Room, Room C6.002, 6th Floor, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin and live via Zoom.
Panel:
Chair
Dr Catherine Conlon – Assistant Professor, Social Policy School of Social Work and Social Policy Trinity College Dublin.
Speakers
- Dr Lindsey Earner-Byrne – Professor, School of History, University College Cork
- Ivana Bacik – Leader of the Labour Party
- Laura McGarrigle, Assistant Secretary General, DCEDIY
- Karen Kiernan – CEO of One Family
2022: Third Annual Sherie De Burgh Commemorative Event
What would Sherie do? The future of pregnancy counselling in Ireland
Pregnancy Counselling and Sherie’s leadership in the practice of counselling has played a critical role in supporting people dealing with unintended and crisis pregnancies in Ireland over many decades. In the third of the series of annual seminars organised by One Family in collaboration with Trinity College Dublin’s School of Social Work and Social Policy commemorating the pioneering pregnancy counsellor, Sherie de Burgh, we explore, the role of pregnancy counselling practice in Ireland – past, present and future.
Seminar Details:
Speakers:
- Dr. Catherine Conlon, Assistant Professor, Social Policy School of Social Work and Social Policy Trinity College Dublin. Catherine will discuss the historical/social context of pregnancy counselling as it evolved in Ireland after insertion of 8th Amendment, following referenda on information in 1995 and also pose questions about the place of counselling in the new model of care implemented following 2018 Act extending legal abortion considerably in the Irish context drawing from research she was involved in on Irish women’s abortion experiences in 1994, 2005 and 2021.
- Karen Kiernan, Chief Executive Officer, One Family – Ireland’s national organisation for people parenting alone, sharing parenting and separating.
- Anne McCarthy, Lead Tutor, Crisis Pregnancy Counselling Skills and Masterclass Programme, Department of Adult and Community Education Maynooth University.
2021: Second Annual Sherie De Burgh Commemorative Event
2020: Inaugural Commemorative Event
