Empathy is not pity, it is mirroring the other's feelings and feeling them as our own. Understanding others, eliminating the notion of "the other" and embracing the humanity that unites us all, this is why empathy is important, now more so than ever before. Dolan’s team at University of Galway has been rolling out empathy education in more than 100 secondary schools, youth club settings and Garda diversion projects for a few years. Activating Social Empathy is a 12-week programme specifically designed for post-primary school students. Opinion: 'evidence overwhelmingly affirms that the development of empathy is essential to healthy, social and emotional functioning' John Lennon is one of my heroes, but it was a very broad thing he was engaged in,” says Murphy. “This is actually tailored. There is a programme and there are results. I would find it very hard to get behind a slogan — this is much more than a slogan. It’s a programme that has results.”

Ionbhá is a sweet-minded book of essays featuring teachers, youth workers and sportspeople, plus creative figures such as The Edge and Murphy himself. But what is empathy? The word only entered the English language in 1908, a translation from the German Einfühlung, which means “feeling into” – and “I think that perfectly describes it”, says the actor. “It’s different to sympathy; it’s adjacent to kindness.” Sympathy, he explains, “is about adding your own sorrow or your own pity onto the other – whereas empathy is where you sit and listen with someone, and you absorb what the person is feeling… And then you’re compelled to take an empathetic action. And that’s when I think it’s at its most powerful. So it isn’t just talk – it’s action. The way civic society is going — not just in this country, but globally — we’re going to be dependent on empathy. Take climate challenge or social justice of any shape or form... it’s vital — Prof Pat Dolan In schools these days there is no shortage of initiatives on wellbeing and resilience. These topics form a central part of the junior cycle in second-level schools. So is there really a need — or even space — in a crowded curriculum for empathy education? Participation in Capacity-Building Programs and the Implications for the Well-Being of Young Farmers with and Without Disabilities in Ugandaionbhách: eochracha chun an scil seo a thuiscint agus an fáth a bhfuil tábhacht léi - Síceolaíocht Ábhar As part of this initiative, Ionbhá: The Empathy Book for Ireland, has been published to support the project. It's a book of over 80 essays, prose and poetry reflections on empathy from both famous and everyday citizens and reminds us that acts of kindness and compassion, no matter how big or small, have massive impact. We look for pieces of ourselves in everything about us, in those around us, and as some people postulated this is the bases of our empathy. We are governed by the need to see our pain out in the world around us, to be seen and to be heard. That is why we write, draw, write and listen to music. To connect. Murphy and Dolan first met in 2010 at the Druid theatre in Galway. They fell into a deep conversation about Dolan’s work at the Unesco Child and Family Research Centre. At the time, the centre was training young people as researchers to collect data from other young people about their lives and experiences in Ireland. Soon, the work expanded to explore and promote the power of empathy. Ionbhá or empathy is a core element of wisdom and a universal language of the soul. It brings joy to the everyday, making the unbearable bearable. “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.

Ar an gcaoi chéanna, is uirlis í an éisteacht ghníomhach a ceadaíonn sé tuairim réamhcheaptha faoi dhaoine eile a athrú agus dul níos faide ná clichés agus claontachtaí trí glacadh leis an gcaoi a smaoiníonn agus a mhothaíonn daoine eile. Go hachomair Is foinse dúshlán intleachtúil leanúnach é a spreagann muid agus a spreagann ár bhforbairt phearsanta. Dá bhrí sin, tugann ionbhá le tuiscint ní amháin meastacháin réasúnta cruinn a dhéanamh faoi na rudaí a mhothaíonn daoine eile, ach freisin dearcadh cuiditheach a ghlacadh i leith na réaltachta síceolaíochta sin a fheicimid i measc daoine eile, ag lorg pointí ceangail idir ár gcuid féin agus tuairimí na ndaoine sin. Celebrity From Molly-Mae Hague to Mariah Carey: Here’s what your favourite celebs got up to (and wore) this HalloweenAll of which leads to the inevitable question: just how empathetic is macho cold-blooded killer Tommy Shelby? “Well, here’s what I’ll say to you,” he starts – he has clearly thought about it before. He points out that Tommy is, when we first meet him, deeply traumatised after fighting in the first world war. “He’s seen men blown apart in front of him – he’s lost belief in authority, in faith, and he’s arrived at this position. I think that what we tried to do over the course of the series is to defrost him. And interestingly, a lot of that comes from his kids.” That said, he sighs. “Listen: he’s a fictional character.”

Current research at the UNESCO Child and Family Centre at the University of Galway and UNESCO HQ Paris is focusing on gaining new knowledge on the nature of empathy and its use as a pedagogical tool for schools and community youth work organisations, the latter in collaboration with Foróige. Ionbhá or empathy is a core element of wisdom and a universal language of the soul. It brings joy to the everyday, making the unbearable bearable. '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. Top Tips from the Baby Whisperer: Breastfeeding: Includes advice on bottle-feedi €8.39 Add to basket That’s where I discovered drama. We did a drama module with Pat Kiernan from Corcadorca. That year for me was hugely formative. We took a pause [between exam years] which was brilliant. I think transition year — both my boys just went through it — is fantastic. It shouldn’t be like, junior cycle, senior cycle, third level, straight into exams again. I think that’s insane,” he says. Empathy really is about the other; that’s what makes it different to the idea of resilience or wellbeing, which are really important things,” says Dolan. “Empathy isn’t sympathy. It’s about valuing, respecting and understanding another person’s view.”

Conas a chuidíonn éisteacht ionbhá linn feabhas a chur ar dhaoine?

This seaside suburb has been his home for about seven years, where he lives with his wife Yvonne McGuinness, an artist, and his two teenage sons. It is clearly a place he seems at ease. He lives a private and, by his own admission, “boring” life here, playing music, reading and hanging out at home. Murphy (46) rarely does interviews outside of film projects — but there is one area where he has decided to use his platform to campaign for change. Middle East Latest | Three countries in the Middle East have decried Israel’s recent air strikes on Gaza City 07:42 Pat Dolan, who has been researching this area for years, says there is a compelling case to introduce empathy education in schools, and across wider society, based on the positive findings of a growing body of research. There are many corollaries of this in modern life, he says, such as the solipsistic world of social media, the absence of time for others, the echo chamber of the media and politics. “I think for young people, social media is a very competitive and very combative environment. I think it’s very hard to be empathetic towards something that you can’t see or connect with,” he says.

Some sceptics might also point to the campaign around empathy education as being earnest and naive, along the lines of John Lennon’s well-intentioned but wide-eyed campaign to give peace a chance. Is bealach maith é chun tuiscint a fháil ar an tionchar a bhíonn ag comhthéacs ar staid mhothúchánach daoine.We’d like to think that by having Ionbhá out there, it makes people aware of the importance of empathy. I see it as giving someone the gift of empathy, but it’s also putting the topic out there as one we need to talk about. While we talk a lot about well-being, we don’t talk enough about empathy.