ILAS Stages Food Fair in Preparation for Saol Café’s Official Opening

Three years ago when SCCUL Enterprises opened SAOL Cafe they had a vision to make it a special landmark in Galway as the first “Social Inclusion Café” at a University in Ireland. We strongly believe in that vision and are excited to be carrying on with all the hard work that SCCUL Enterprises has put in since Saol Café first opened in 2015.

For the past month, we’ve had the pleasure of getting to know everyone in the Life Course Building and meeting our neighbours from the Biosciences Research Building, as well as the IDA Park in Dangan.

It has been a ton of fun getting our fabulous team in place, including Joanna, Alicja, Enda and Christopher. You may recognize Christopher as a familiar face around SAOL CAfe as he was one of the original staff members. We are thrilled to have him on board. Joanna and Alicja have also spent their fair share of time around campus and have put their heart and soul into getting SAOL Café up and running.

We would also like to offer our congratulations to Alicja and her new husband Pawel. The two tied the knot just before Saul’s grand reopening. Congrats you two!

Even though it has been fun, our first few months have certainly been busy. Not only our day to day operations where we have the pleasure of serving NUI’s wonderful students and staff, but we have also had our hands full catering some very exciting events.

In September we catered for the Whitaker Institute’s “10 Years On: How Ireland has changed since the financial crisis.” And after that the Department of Foreign Affairs asked us to cater their very large event titled, “Getting Ireland Brexit Ready.” Both events were tough but a lot of fun, and we were even lucky enough to get Simon Coveney Tanaiste to take a snap with the team.

We may be getting settled here at SAOL Cafe but that does not mean we have any intention of slowing down. We have big plans, and are continuing to work with Employability to hopefully continue to grow our team.

And of course we plan to keep you full of coffee, treats, and whatever else you need to get you through your day on campus. So come on in and say hello to the SAOL Cafe family next time you find yourself at NUIG. And check back next month to hear all about the great things we have on the horizon to keep making SAOL Café even more awesome.

A notable academic, Pres. Higgins also remarked on the “interdisciplinary character” of the Institute, and encouraged it to maintain its interest in “strong theoretical work”, while warning that to abandon work grounded in thorough academic research would be “disastrous” for all who participate in it.

Throughout his lecture, Pres. Higgins repeatedly highlighted the distinction between “craft” and “science”, questioning which is more effective at a human level, and outlined his hopes that the Lifecourse Institute would be “an exercise of empowerment” for young people that would give way to “a new form of contemporary literacy” and re-engage “young scholars”.

In the latter half of his talk, Pres. Higgins explored what he believes to be “welcome signs of change”, including the impending introduction of politics and society as a Leaving Certificate subject in 2016, a change he feels will foster future generations’ capacity for “transformative thinking”.

Repeating the importance of “crafting” in the Lifecourse Institute’s work (marrying theoretical research grounded by academia with a practical approach that embraces “the fullness of the person”), Pres. Higgins revealed his hope that all who work in the ILAS Centre are joyful in their approach to their practice, and that their work will lead to a better, more cohesive society in modern-day Ireland.

Renowned nationwide for his all-encompassing vision and perspective, Pres. Higgins’s lecture did not just focus on the Lifecourse Institute and the work conducted within it; his talk was grounded in global issues such as the role of the State, economic policy, the migration crisis in the E.U., and the rise of extremism.

Contrasting the holistic approach taken by ILAS-based researchers, Pres. Higgins expressed his frustration at what he perceives as a lack of an interdisciplinary approach worldwide, outlining his belief that society’s response to the suffering of individuals must be “immediate”, while also recognising that their “right has been denied”, and supported by a “clear vision” for progression.

Concluding, Pres. Higgins reflected on the recent Paris attacks, and accepted that we live in “a time of understandable fear”, but encouraged all present to “face up to tough choices”, to “seize the opportunity to work together”, and not to “let words become empty”.

He reminded the audience that “the participation of citizenship was at the centre of the republicanism” that led to the founding of the Irish State, that “a true republic” should be judged on how it meets the needs of its people, “and of the stranger,” particularly as we approach the centenary of the 1916 Rising.