How Judge Gillian Hussey’s belief in second chances helped build a Wicklow lifeline

By Darragh McCann, The Wicklow People

A chance conversation at a charity event in Dublin between former District Court judge Gillian Hussey and Tiglin co-founder Aubrey McCarthy marked the beginning of Tiglin’s journey, which has since gone on to help thousands of people through its addiction services and work within the homeless sector, including a strong presence in Co Wicklow.

“I had addiction in my own family, so I wanted to do more,” said Aubrey, who began his career as an auctioneer before volunteering with the Salvation Army and later buying a bus, which he converted into a mobile food donation service.

“We used to go to Cleary’s Clock on O’Connell Street,” he said. “We started meeting the most amazing people, and someone asked me to act as auctioneer for a charity event for an addiction centre in Kildare.”

While at the event, Aubrey struck up a conversation with former District Court judge and pioneer for women in law Gillian Hussey, who was a guest speaker. Judge Hussey was accompanied by a woman she had previously sentenced to prison, who had since turned her life around. “The two of them spoke like mother and daughter,” Aubrey said, adding that the woman spoke about how, since her release, she now had a bright future ahead of her.

Aubrey recalled that during the conversation, Ms Hussey remarked that there was no addiction treatment facility for men. He later contacted the judge to ask how he could help, a conversation that ultimately led to the founding of Tiglin. When remembering that night, Aubrey recalled: “She told me that night I was the rudest person she has ever met. She told me to make sure I never lost that talent.”

Aubrey helped co-found Tiglin with its CEO, Phil Thompson. Describing Thompson’s role, Aubrey said he is very quiet and in the background.

Speaking about the relationship between the pair, Ms Hussey said: “They are two of the most unlikely people to even talk. I’m so pleased they are so unalike.”

Starting out with the bus showed Aubrey that many of the people he encountered were homeless and in need not only of food, but of stable accommodation and rehabilitation.

In Wicklow, Tiglin now operates a number of services supporting people affected by addiction and homelessness. Its Wicklow-based operation provides residential treatment, emergency accommodation and supported housing, alongside education, training and work programmes.

Ms Hussey is now a patron of Tiglin and attends all graduations for those who complete its residential treatment programmes. Aubrey said that at every graduation, when a name such as McCarthy is read out, Ms Hussey will say: “Are they the McCarthys from Rialto? Bring that man up to me.”

He added that she would often tell graduates: “I knew your aunt Mary” or “your uncle Tommy.”

Ms Hussey, who is now 88 years old, said her work as a District Court judge touched lives across Dublin and the surrounding counties. “I was recently in the city centre and two men came up to me and said, ‘We’re graduating today,’” she said. “Later, I recognised them at an event and one of their mothers told me it was lovely to see I was still here. She obviously thought I was dead.”

Ms Hussey began her career as one of the first women on the criminal bench. “I lost nearly half a stone when I went on the bench,” she said. She also credited the Probation Service with supporting her early career, noting that four former colleagues remain close friends.

Ms Hussey said she still meets them for lunch regularly and insists on paying to show her gratitude. “They laugh at me, but I still owe them that debt because they taught me so much.”

She said that in earlier years the Probation Service was often the only option available for people with addiction issues due to the lack of treatment facilities. Reflecting on the 1970s and 1980s, Ms Hussey said: “To be an alcoholic was fashionable. It was the families who really suffered.”

Ms Hussey began her judicial career in the Bridewell before moving to Kilmainham, which she described as a much busier court. “It didn’t matter where you were. The attitude was lock them up, lock them up,” she said, adding that with guidance from the Probation Service she came to believe prison was no place for drug addicts.

Aubrey said: “I’ve done this for 20 years, and to find someone like Judge Gillian is an impossible task. Most people tick a box; they see it as a formal judicial process.” He added: “She sees a person in the dock, and 20 years later she still sees the person, and that’s totally unusual.”

Recalling a moment from the early days of Tiglin, Aubrey said he invited the judge to visit the bus and asked her to wear a disguise so she could see the work being done. “We were walking down Talbot Street and the next minute someone said, ‘Hussey, you sent me to jail four times.’”

The judge asked the man if she had been right to send him to prison. “The man said, ‘Yeah, you were,’” Aubrey said, adding that the two then went on to have a long conversation.

At the beginning of her career, she admitted she knew nothing about addiction. “I had a 14-year-old daughter when I went on the bench, and she told me, ‘If you come into Grafton Street with me, you can smell the drugs.’”

Tiglin and the Probation Service remain close allies, with Aubrey remarking: “When the individual has a sense of humanity about them, whether it is a judge, a garda or a probation officer, it makes all the difference.”

Aubrey also spoke fondly of now retired Wicklow Probation Service officer Andrew Murphy, saying: “He’s a diamond. He sees the guys and the girls, and his job is to help them get better, not tick a box.” He added that Ms Hussey has brought probation staff and three judges to Tiglin graduations.

Judge Hussey told a story of a man who had appeared before her in the dock. He later graduated from Coolmine addiction services and recounted his offending. “I told him it’s a terrible pity you came into this court, because it’s the only court in Ireland that could tell you that there isn’t a graduation from Coolmine.”

Another story from Gillian’s days in Kilmainham was told by Aubrey. A man named Paul, knowing he was going to prison, escaped from custody. Gillian added: “He went running across the road and jumped over a wall, but he wasn’t aware that he was jumping into the river before being arrested soon after.” Paul and Ms Hussey later reconnected at a Tiglin graduation at their facility in Ashford, Co Wicklow, before both making an appearance on RTE’s Late Late Show.

Since retiring from the Bench, Ms Hussey bought a house on Dublin’s Southside and has been enjoying retirement with her Jack Russell. In 2022, she released her book Lessons from the Bench, with Aubrey recalling a paragraph that had a particular impact on him: “In chapter three you said ‘the criminals in Kilmainham were my family. That’s how I saw it. We were a big court family, messy, noisy, and sometimes succeeding, and sometimes failing’.”

Tiglin later became part of Ms Hussey’s extended family, with her saying: “Second chances are vital for those in addiction. A person is hidden beneath the addiction, and if you can excavate them back into the light, you might find them to be a very different person than the one who used to appear before me in court.”

Speaking about her current routine, she said she enjoys watching sports on TV and getting out for lunch while continuing to help Tiglin as much as possible.

Tiglin’s centres in Wicklow remain central to this work. Each year, they support hundreds of individuals across the county, making them a cornerstone of Tiglin’s national network and a lasting legacy of the partnership between Aubrey McCarthy, Phil Thompson, and Judge Hussey.