An Tairseach’s ten-week residential Sabbatical Programme runs once a year during the Spring, hosted in our Ecology Centre.

This is a peaceful and tranquil building surrounded by spacious grounds and the 70-acre organic farm which overlooks Wicklow Bay. The Centre has lecture rooms, a meditation room, an art room, the chapel, a library, a kitchen and dining room, a therapeutic treatment room, common rooms and administrative offices.  Guest accommodation is in single en-suite rooms with shared or self-contained self-catering facilities.

Sunday 1st March – Friday 8th May 2026

Applications are welcome from anyone with an interest and commitment to the content of the programme.

The programme includes:

/Becoming familiar with our evolution over 14 billion years as discovered by contemporary science.

/Exploring its implications for understanding our place in the universe.

/Exploring the theological implications of this new cosmology.

/Listening to the wisdom of the mystics.

/Reflecting on themes from the Celtic Tradition.

/Examining our images of God.

/Critiquing our present world order and exploring possibilities for a sustainable lifestyle.

The programme is delivered through:

/Lectures and group sessions led by the An Tairseach team and guest lecturers.

/Art, movement, ritual, prayer, nature walks, guided meditation, walking the labyrinth and time alone.

/Visits to sacred places such as Glendalough.

/Study using a specialised library of books, periodicals, DVD’s and internet resources.

/Guest lecturers include: Diarmuid O’Murchu, Philip John Newell, Niamh Brennan, John Feehan and many more.

An Tairseach is only five minutes walk from Wicklow Town Centre which has food and clothes shops, as well as the possibility of long walks beside the Vartry river and the sea.  There is a swimming pool in Wicklow Town as well as other sports facilities.  It is a half an hour drive to Glendalough and the beautiful Wicklow mountains.