Spirasi (Spiritan Asylum Services Initiative)
The national centre for the rehabilitation of victims of torture in Ireland.
Spirasi (the Spiritan Asylum Services Initiative) was set up by the Spiritans in the late 1990s. It was a response to the evolving migration and asylum situation in Ireland and was in line with the Spiritan charism of working with and for those who are oppressed or on the margins of society.
It is now Ireland’s national centre for the rehabilitation of victims of torture. Spirasi’s remit is determined by the UN Convention Against Torture’s definition of torture which is as follows:
any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity…
UN Convention Against Torture
