An interesting conference that will discuss the role of women in the Irish Civil war years in Drogheda is taking place on Saturday 3rdnd June at the St. Peter’s Church of Ireland Hall at the top of Peter Street.
The event will be hosted by the Mayor of Drogheda Cllr. Michelle Hall, with the support of The Drogheda Civic Trust, the Decade of Centenaries Programme and Louth County Council.
“While P.S. O’ Hegarty’s description of the women in his influential 1924 book The Victory of Sinn Féin as ‘the Furies’ and ‘arid begetters of violence‘ is the most often-cited characterisation of women republicans, but he was by no means alone.
The Most Reverend Bishop Dr Bernard Coyne famously described these women revolutionaries as “half-crazed, hysterical women who were undermining the authority of the bishops and priests and assisting in the slaughter of some of the best and bravest of Ireland’s sons!”
During the event, which is open to the public, speakers will discuss women in the Irish revolutionary years under various headings and present their stories.
Drogheda Cumann na mBan members, including Mrs. Kenny, Mrs Dempsey, Mrs. Collins, Ms. Moore, Mrs. Tiernan, marching in 1966.
Programme
- 9.30 am – Welcome by the Mayor, Cllr. Michelle Hall
- 9.45am – Dr. Leeane Lane. “Dorothy Macardle “
- 10.20 am- Sean O’Briain.” Beirt bhan mhisniuil – Kathleen and Mary Balfe”.
- 10.45am to 11.00 am – Break
- 11.00 am – Liz Gillis. “What did the Women do Anyway?”
- 11.45 am – Sean Collins. “I never thought I was such a danger to the State “
- 12.30pm – Q+A
- 1.00pm – Light Lunch.
- 2.00 pm – Town walk, led by the Mayor, Cllr. Michelle hall highlighting the role of women in Drogheda’s town history.
Dr. Leanne Lane
Dr Leeann Lane is a lecturer in the School of History and Geography, Dublin City University.
Liz Gillis
Liz Gillis is from the Liberties in Dublin and is the author of six books on the Irish Revolution including ‘The Fall of Dublin’, ‘Women of the Revolution’ and ‘The Hales Brothers and the Irish Revolution’.
She will discuss the vital role that women played in the Irish Revolution. Often seen as being mere supporters of the Revolution, this talk aims to show exactly what these women could do and did do in the Easter Rising, War of Independence and Civil War.
Sean O’Briain
Sean is a native of Drogheda and a grandson of Kathleen Dempsey, the first woman ever elected to Drogheda Corporation. A former secondary school teacher and school inspector. He is the author of the recently published biography of Liam O’Buachalla,’Drogheda’s Forgotten Statesman’.
Sean Collins M.A.
Local history writer and broadcaster. Sean is a graduate of U.C.D. and an Alumni of Boston College.
For more information and to book your place at this event, CLICK HERE
