HEAR ME NOW


 An independent initiative of Restore Together 


RESTORATIVE JUSTICE PROGRAMME

Hear Me Now is the Oral History / Testimony Gathering part of the multi-faceted Restorative Programme that aims to help everyone affected by child sex abuse inflicted at Spiritan/ Holy Ghost schools. It will achieve this in two ways:


1. By helping victims/ survivors deal with the abuse inflicted on them through being able to give a full account of their experience (anonymously or named) as a permanent public record. Personal accounts are given to a professional team totally independent of the Spiritans. Everyone who participates will give their account in their preferred way, on their terms and will be believed.


2. To inform Irish society on the dangers related to child sex abuse by publishing a public record of as many individual accounts of what happened, and how over many years in Spiritan/ Holy Ghost schools.


Launched in March 2026, the Hear Me Now project will gather and publish all the contributions received in March 2027. 


Since 2022 the voluntary advocacy group Restore Together CLG has lobbied for a Five Pillar Restorative Healing Programme that is co-designed by a range of stakeholders dealing with sexual abuse in Spiritan/Holy Ghost schools. Stakeholders include victims/survivors, mediators, the Spiritans, and experts in the field of “restorative justice” which aims to repair harm rather than just punish the offender. The work of Restore Together puts victims and survivors at the heart of all that we

do.


The Restorative Programme is unique in being non-adversarial, trauma informed, and most importantly, led by victim/survivors. Testimony Gathering, Hear Me Now, is the 4th Pillar of the programme. 

The goal of Hear Me Now is to facilitate those individuals who experienced sexual abuse by members of the Spiritan Order or in any of the Spiritan Schools, and others who were impacted by these abuses, to tell and document their experiences and put the experiences into the public domain.

From the outset we recognise Hear Me Now is not for everyone. Just like our other pillars, you select what you feel is appropriate for you at any given point in time. This leaflet may help you in your decision whether to participate or not. There are many ways of examining what happened, but within the constraints of available resources, this is a first step. We hope to build on this initiative, but the output of this first step depends on your input.

FAQs

  • 1. Who is eligible to participate?

    The Hear Me Now project team is inviting the following people to participate:

    • victims/survivors;
    • family members;
    • former pupils;
    • current and former school staff, including teachers;
    • and any others who were affected in any way, or who witnessed behaviours or events that help explain how abuse occurred and was repeated

  • 2. We aim to show  Respect, Expertise, and Humanity in our delivery

    We understand your experiences have been difficult and each individual has coped so far in a way that they can best manage for themselves. 


    Understanding these difficulties, we built an independent professional Project Team for Hear Me Now so that you and the Team can interact with mutual respect, avail of their expertise, and in a way that helps to rebalance the power you lost as a child

  • 3. You hold a powerful experience that is important:

    You have had many encounters with the Spiritans over the decades. The abuse, the responses you received, the way you were treated all make up a unique experience with the Spiritans that will be lost forever unless it is recorded. Your experiences can be a valuable reminder to everyone how difficult it is dealing with perpetrators and institutions in which these abuses occurred. You have powerful experiences that should be heard. As part of the process, we will collectively ask the Spiritans for their responses.


    Hear Me Now offers you the opportunity to say whatever you feel is appropriate to the Spiritans. You have the power to question them and to put your questions on the public record through this unique project.

  • 4. Will Hear Me Now make a difference?

    “People don't and can't understand how life changes as a result of sexual abuse”


    Hear Me Now is an opportunity for you expose the full truth of what happened to you (anonymously if you wish) and to educate society on how it happened and the effect it has. Your contribution would be so important and would help protect others who are vulnerable to abusers today.


    Perpetrators wish for what they did to remain hidden. This leaves them with the power. Speaking out about what they did is one of the ways we can regain our power.

      

    Please consider this; You could be the difference that helps a new victim/survivor to recognise themselves in your experience, or someone else in authority to recognise how perpetrators of abuse operate. 


  • 5. Who is running Here Me Now?

    Hear Me Now is an initiative of Restore Together CLG. It is funded by a philanthropic organisation which is supporting Restore Together in this work. Hear Me Now is run independently of the Spiritans. It has two teams in place for the work: An Operational Team and an Oversight Committee.


    Operational Team: This team is staffed with qualified trauma informed individuals who interact directly with all participants to facilitate the documentation of each person’s full account of their experience.


    Oversight Committee: The committee is Chaired by Professor Marie Keenan Emeritus Professor of Criminal and Restorative Justice at UCD. She is also a psychotherapist and restorative justice practitioner. Hear Me Now is not a UCD project or initiative.


    Other members of the committee includes an academic, three members of Restore Together and two victim / survivors who are independent of Restore Together. The Committee roles include a designated Data Protection Officer, a finance sub-committee, an academic and therapeutic integrity sub-committee and a liaison person with the funding organisation.


    The committee ensures that the project has the resources it needs, is legally compliant. with privacy law (including GDPR) and is progressing at all times.

  • 6. Where will the documented and recorded personal accounts go?

    All the experiences will be produced in full and made available as part of the historical record of what happened to children in these schools. The experiences will be made available in a public report in Spring 2027 and also archived and made publicly available in digital form.

  • 7.  Does working with Hear Me Now affect my right to contribute to the National Commission of Investigation?

    Absolutely not. These are related but separate projects.  The difference between the two could be summarised as 


    Timeliness: Hear Me Now will report in Spring 2027. The National Commission of Investigation is likely to report years later. 


    Full presentation: Hear Me Now will not summarise or take samples of a participant’s account– what you contribute is retained and published in its entirety.

  • 8. Are the Spiritans/Holy Ghost Order involved with Hear Me Now?

    No. Hear Me Now is completely independent of the Spiritan/ Holy Ghost congregation who will only be asked to respond to the report after its publication.


    Hear Me Now is conducted by an independent project team and is overseen by the Oversight Committee. The Data Protection Officer is responsible for all matters relating to data protection and GDPR. The finance sub-committee is responsible for matters relating to finance. The academic and therapeutic sub- committee is responsible for matters relating to academic and therapeutic integrity. The Oversight Committee is chaired by Emeritus Prof Marie Keenan, UCD. Hear Me Now is an initiative of Restore Together CLG.

  • 9. How do you engage with Hear Me Now?

    We have several alternatives available for you. Our Participant Information Document contains all the details – in the interests of brevity they are not outlined here. Now follow the instruction in the box below titled How do I Progress.

HOW DO I PROGRESS?

Contact clodagh@hearmenow.ie to confirm you wish to participate


Clodagh will send you our Participant Information Document (gives further details on the project. Read it to be sure all your questions are answered).


If you wish to proceed further Clodagh will then send you a Contact Form (to help us stay in contact). 

You will be asked to return the Contact Form and the Consent Form.