Barnahus Ireland Professional Education Project Delivers Training in UCC

19 Jun 2026

On June 17th and 18th Dr. Maria Lotty, and Blathnaid McCabe delivered the Train the Trainer Programme for Barnahus Ireland Trauma-Informed Care Professional Education Training at University College Cork, as part of the European Union – Council of Europe Joint Project “Support the implementation of the Barnahus project in Ireland (Phase II)”

The two-day programme brought together a dedicated group of professionals representing the four rooms of Barnahus:

• Tusla – Child and Family Agency
• Children’s Health Ireland (CHI)
• An Garda Síochána
• Health Service Executive (HSE)

The training was designed:

• To create a pool of trainers available across all relevant agencies (AGS, HSE, CHI and Tusla)
• To support professionals in training other professionals to implement trauma-informed care as part of the response through Barnahus Ireland
• To drive a child rights-based participatory response to child sexual abuse in Barnahus Ireland
• To embed a shared multidisciplinary interagency response in Barnahus Ireland
• To establish trauma-informed practices to informing intervention at each stage of child and family’s journey through the Barnahus Ireland care pathway.

The programme has been developed over a two-year period, with significant review and refinement informed by best available evidence in trauma-informed care and programme design for addressing child sexual abuse ( Lotty et al., 2026). It was developed as part of the European Union – Council of Europe Joint Project “Support the implementation of the Barnahus project in Ireland (Phase II)” alongside the piloting of both Foundation and Advanced levels. The Project is co-funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument, and implemented by the Council of Europe, in cooperation with the European Commission and the Irish Department of Children, Disability and Equality (DCDE).

‘It is brilliant now to have ten highly skilled and experienced professionals, representing four agencies (Tusla, CHI, HSE and An Garda Siochana), who are fully prepared to roll out this programme.’ Dr Maria Lotty, 18th June 2026