Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 10
The Trick Seems to be to Work on it – Cillian Murphy 12
Unpacking Empathy – Charlotte Silke and
Bernadine Brady 16
Brothers – Michael D. Higgins 20
The Talker – Rory O’Neill 26
Seeing Through the Eyes of Another – Pamela Joyce 29
Sausage Poisoning – Blindboyboatclub 32
Empathy – Michael Kerin 37
Thoughts on Empathy’s Place in Music – Hozier 41
Toss the Bobbin – Nicola Joyce 46
Empathy in Music Therapy – Rebecca O’Connor 51
Don’t Murray, Be Happy! – Cathal Murray 54
My Essay on Empathy – Tolü Makay 58
The Light in Somebody Else’s Storm – Lynda Peilow 61
Too Sensitive – Louise O’Neill 65
Empathy Checkpoint – Martina Venneman 69
Showing Empathy to Youth – Gary Nugent 73
A Traveller’s Perspective – Martin McDonagh 76
Empathy through Food – Michelle Darmody 80
Reflections on Empathy and Sport – Eamonn O’Shea 83
Stepping in the Stirrups of Others – Rachael Blackmore 87
Empathy isn’t Black and White – Joanne O’Riordan 89
Nursing – in the Blink of an Eye – Marie Lohan 92
Empathy from My Mother – Seán Campbell 95
Served with Compassion – Niamh Condon 98
Empathy in Journalism – Carl O’Brien 103
Green over Blue – Kiernan Forsyth 107
6
On the Mend – John Gaffey 110
The Person who Sees – Ailbhe Greaney 115
Empathy, Images and the Internet – Mary McGill 123
Empathy for the Devil … and the Nuns –
Mark Brennan 126
Educating for and with Empathy – Dr Niamh Flynn
and Emer Davitt 131
YHTAPME – Róisín Hanley 138
English Class – Elaine Feeney 144
I Sure Hope the School around the Corner is
Not the Same – Pat Dolan 147
Empathy in Education – Hugh Fitzmaurice 151
It’s You I Like … The Way You Are Right Now –
Dr Dana Winters and Dr Annie White 155
A Sheep among Wolves – Aisling Duffy 159
The Music Medicine Woman – Mary Coughlan 164
Nocturne II – John Kelly 167
Savita – Kitty Holland 168
Lonely Hearths – Gillian Browne 176
Empathy for My Mother – Dermot Whelan 177
The Magic Cauldron – Susan McKeown 178
Does it Count as Empathy – Brendan O’Connor 182
Hot Wheels, Warm Heart – Tara Dawson 186
Empathy as an Act of Defiance – The Edge 189
Empathy, the Best Superpower – Rabbi Zalman Lent 191
My Power Called Empathy – Matthew
Shaw-Torkzadeh 195
Empathy as a Broader Understanding of Family –
Valerie Biden Owens 197
Empathy and the Displaced – Niamh Heery 202
Empathy across Generations – Mary Sugrue 208
Our Empathy Story – McDonough Family 211
7
All Lives Matter – Uchechukwu Helen Ogbu 216
Historical Empathy? – Sarah-Anne Buckley 223
Northern Dilemmas – Alan and Elaine Smith 226
A Wing-Back and a Prayer – Colin Regan 228
Closer to Home – Eoin, Róisín & Brendan Dolan 233
Who Am I to Judge? – Peter McVerry 236
Yesterday’s Enemies – Saoirse Egan 239
The True Power of Sport to Really Connect – Hugo
MacNeill 245
Best Way to Human – Imelda May 251
Growing Up – Stephanie Roche 252
Radiant Empathy in the Dark – Ella Anderson 257
Empathy and Me – Ashling Dunphy 261
Broken Radios – Fiona Prine 264
Ingredients – Nevin Maguire 269
He Fell through the Cracks – Rita Ann Higgins 273
Citylink Tales – Catherine Denning 275
Thinking in Plastic – Ciara-Beth Ní Ghríofa 277
Courageous Conversations – Ben Hughes 281
My Understanding of Empathy – Timmy Long 291
Empathy to Me – James Leonard 292
Empathy can Heal our Troubled World – Shaykh
Dr Umar Al-Qadri 294
Empathy Sa Chistín – Hume Family 298
Empathy – A True Champion of the West – Hannick
Family 303
Managers of Empathy – Paul McGrath 308
Mary Elmes – Clodagh Finn 311
Finding Empathy – Eamonn Fitzgerald 316
Ciorcal Iomlán – Kathy Hyland 325
Luck – Louis de Paor 328
8
No Idea what will Happen Next – Tiernan Henry 332
Reflections on Learning Empathy – Mark Brennan
and Pat Dolan 336
Contributors’ Biographies 346

Promotional Information

'We need empathy in schools just as we need empathy in the world right now' - Cillian Murphy, Actor and Patron of the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre

About the Author

Cillian Murphy, Actor and Patron of the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre Galway