Spéire Nua

Welcome to the Spéire Nua (New Horizon) Project, a new, exciting, and innovative approach to assisting people with criminal convictions to access the labour market. It is an activity adopted by Amicitia Health & Social Care CLG and one of the many projects hosted through their Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Lab. Amicitia acts as an incubation space for new social innovations that enhance the community of Athenry in Co. Galway and beyond.

At Spéire Nua, we believe our project will provide our clients with the incentive to commit to change. Currently, there is an acceptance that the criminally convicted have little or no incentive to change or engage as people with convictions are punished secondarily in the community because of the label. Our project will ease the restrictiveness that our client’s experience and feel from being exposed by Criminal Conviction Disclosures. We will work with our clients to provide a current, balanced, and fairer view of them and the steps they have taken to move on from their offending behaviour.

Spéire Nua compliments and enhances existing services and supports offered to individuals to help them reintegrate into their communities. We have adopted an existing approach that is derived from the process of Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) to support the disclosure process. (RPL) helps people to get certified recognition for unaccredited and experiential learning. A slight change to this model will provide those in the system or those living in the community with a strengths based disclosure to assist them in demonstrating that they have committed to significant, positive change.