Farah Elle / Singer-Songwriter

Singer-Songwriter

We interviewed Farah on 6 November 2020.

Farah, can you tell me a bit about your childhood, and growing up?

We moved to Ireland when I was 1 ½ years old from Libya, from Benghazi, and we came to Dublin. We were living in Dublin for pretty much my entire childhood, until I was 11, and then we moved to Meath. I’m quite similar to my 4-year old self. I think everyone is happy by nature, especially children, and I just rolled with it. I’m the only one that my mam named; my dad named my siblings. My name means joy and happiness in Arabic.

Photo by Abe Neihum Photography

I definitely saw a lot of chaos as a child and witnessed a lot of culture clash. I think everyone has a different path laid out for them, and I think mine was very apparent from a very young age, in tiny symbolic ways. Like things that are very particular to a person. For example, my mum got me a sunflower when I was like 4, and I’ve always loved sunflowers and yellow was my favourite colour since I was a child. And then when you get older you realise that colours represent different things and … I just think childhood was a path paved for how I am now.

Who were your role models growing up?

My siblings. I always looked up to my siblings. I have one sister and two brothers and they’re all really creative. Whatever music they were listening to, I would listen to. They were always drawing or jamming and they’re all a bit older than me, so when there’s that age gap … we weren’t exactly peers, I had them on a platform, so they were always my role models growing up. Then when I was 17, I was old enough to be friends with them, and to be their peer. I was also obsessed with my mom as a kid. If she liked something, I liked it!

I also really loved certain musicians and artists. I actually really loved Shakira when I was 9-years old because her first album that came out featured a lot of Lebanese artists and it was super edgy, and sort of rock music meets Arabic music. I really enjoyed her vibe.

Has music always been a big part of your life? Can you tell us about when you began to explore your own music?

I really started committing when I got a piano when I was 11. I had a keyboard before that, but my mom got me a piano when I was 11 and it couldn’t be taken away from me, I was playing all the time. Then I started writing poetry when I was 12 or 13 and I started to sing the poetry. I saw poetry as lyrics.

Photo taken in Berlin by Stephen

I wasn’t really concerned with discovering my own sound, I just knew that I had to keep doing it. I kept writing and playing and forming bands or jamming with friends and then by the time I got to college, that’s when I started discovering my own voice and exploring the depth of it. I started considering culture and background, and the role they play in our voices. The first time I sang in Arabic was when I was 18 or 19 and I realised it felt completely different, and that was a big discovery. Even now when I sing in Arabic I really feel like I’m expressing something different, like a secret! I’m still learning a lot about that.

I feel very secure in my belief in the importance of expression. I really strongly value that, I think everyone needs to sing and needs to dance and needs to create, or paint or cook, or something creative. Things that are creative need to be done as part of our wellbeing and as a way of preserving our souls. I strongly believe in that.

You love writing music. Where do you draw your inspiration from? Are there certain topics you find yourself writing about often?

For so long I wrote from a place of pain. It was cathartic for me. I used it as a tool to process painful emotions, and of course for celebration, but the reason it was a need was to process the world around me. That was my inspiration for a long time – just getting things off my chest. Now … everything is everything … nature plays a massive role in my life, and the behaviours and rituals that we would have done indigenously. Things that are at our core, and in our nature, those things really influence me. Like how everything feels different when you’re on a beach, or how chilling up in a forest is a totally different vibe than sitting in your house! I also gain a lot of inspiration from people, I really genuinely care for people, I really love people. I think listening is really powerful, and I’ve only learned to really listen in the past two years.

Your music has been described in terms of ‘alternative pop,’ ‘hip-hop,’ ‘R&B,’ and with some features of Arabian influence … is this how you would describe it? Is there one style or genre that you feel most at home with?

I got a word, me and my band found a word that works, and that word is progressive. For years people have been asking me what kind of music I make – ‘what’s your genre’ - and I just melt down inside because I’m like ‘I sing in Arabic sometimes … I sing in English sometimes …’ but it turns out there is a word, and that’s progressive. So, the music is progressive, but also the ethos and values is progress and progression.

What is the music scene/industry like for women in Ireland today? Have you come up against many obstacles/setbacks?

Photo taken in Toronto by Jerick Collantes

I find this question funny because I don’t know what it’s like to not be a woman. In order to ‘know what it’s like for women’ I’d need to know what it’s like for everyone else. I can speak from my own experience … there’s times when you might not be taken as seriously and I often thought that this was down to my personality because I’m very friendly, I can be sweet, so I thought that was the reason why people maybe didn’t take instructions as seriously or think that I needed a hand or whatever. I’m all for kindness, but I’m not okay with disrespect. But I’m going to be really honest and say that I don’t really focus on that stuff, it doesn’t really phase me. I don’t like talking badly about people.

The music industry is what it is. I don’t think Ireland is any different than the rest of the world. There is an expectation for women to be super sexy which I can tell you on a humane or cultural level is problematic and not inclusive … I was raised Muslim, I’m clearly pretty liberal, I’m not the most practicing Muslim out there, but dressing modestly is something that’s often practiced in Islam and I feel because women are so sexualised and objectified sometimes that it can be difficult to go out there and be your total self without people thinking you have to be really sexy. I’m all for sexual freedom, and that takes many forms, but it’s not the same for dudes. 

Your mother, Dr Fatima Hamroush, is an ophthalmologist and in 2011 she was made Libya’s first female Health Minister. Your upcoming debut album is called FATIMA …is this after your mother? Can you tell us about the influence that she’s had in your life and on this album?

So, my mam is obviously super rebel in her own right and in many ways. Even if we just look at it on a generational level as Libyan women, my grandmother was not allowed to learn how to read and write and then you have my mom who not only completed her education but became a doctor and then took that post as Health Minister. She also went against her social norms in Libya and divorced my dad which was very much frowned upon by the Libyan community, but she had the courage to do what was right and what was needed. She always prioritised our freedom and our safety. Nobody’s perfect, but that takes a lot of courage and a lot of strength and you can’t help but be inspired. She’s a powerful person, she has a strong presence in a room. She could walk in and not say anything, but you would feel her there. So, I’ve definitely drawn a lot of inspiration from her nature as a person. The album is named after her, but I also love the word Fatima because it’s globally very intercultural and means different things in every language and every culture. It’s also a place of sanctuary and I’d be so over the moon if people found the album as a sanctuary for themselves to go to and listen and feel seen and heard.

Your most recent single, Sunblock, is a gorgeous song which you yourself said is an exploration of ‘the emotional complexities of choosing joy over sorrow in our day-to-day lives. Making sure that we take a moment to reflect on ourselves and consider how often we ‘block out the sun’ each day.’ 2020 has obviously been so tough for so many, and now that we’re back in level 5, a lot of people are struggling. How do you personally ‘choose joy over sorrow’ in times like this? Have you advice for people who might watch this who may be ‘blocking out the sun’?

It's honestly little things. Our feelings are our feelings. If you feel like crying all day, then cry all day. It’s important not to suppress those feelings. So, by choosing joy over sorrow it’s very much in tiny behaviours. It sounds funny because this is actually quite literal but it’s little things like opening our curtains and letting light in. And I like to get very meta about everything, so when it comes to choosing joy over sorrow, there are things we can do like not talking negatively about other people. I also don’t really believe in this positive-negative thing anymore, I just think things are things and that’s okay.

Photo taken by Tara Thomas Photography

There’s no need to rain on someone’s parade. If someone tells us good news, celebrate. If we hear good news, celebrate. When we have access to food and water and shelter, that’s also something to celebrate. That doesn’t mean we have to be like ‘oh I’m so happy’ even when we feel bad, no. I can continue to exist and to accept who I am. It’s very important that we do that, because it doesn’t work to suppress feelings no matter how hard people try, they always come back. So the reason the whole joy over sorrow thing came into fruition or was articulated like that was because while I was sitting and writing the answers to that interview I was looking out the window and a magpie came and sat on the shed and there’s this superstition that if you see one magpie it represents sorrow and two equals joy and so on. And they say if you salute it it gets rid of the sorrow. So, this ridiculous superstition got in my head and I was sitting there writing this press release and this magpie came and sat on the shed and I was like ‘oh no, where’s the sorrow? Why does it always find us!?’ but the truth is, sorrow will always find us. But so will joy. There will always be joy in the world. And joy often tries really hard to be with us and we can get so used to being drained and being upset that we actually forget about joy sometimes. Sorrow finds us and joy we have to really open our eyes to find.

I’m really not into telling people how to live their lives but I’m really passionate about people being happy because I feel like being happy is very revolutionary these days and a lot of time people try to take our joy away and you know what, that’s worth fighting for. I’m not up for crushing someone’s dreams either, if someone tells me something good, I’m like ‘yes! That’s great! Give me more of that!’ But there are people who will receive good news and will be like ‘yeah but…’ Stop doing that to each other! Can we just like be? Things are the way they are. People often think that I’m this super positive force but the truth is, it’s not about positive, negative, good or bad, I actually like to throw that stuff in the garbage and be like ‘this is the way this is and every day is different.’ Last week I cancelled all my work stuff and just cried all week, I was so sad. But I was so happy to be so sad, because I let it all out, I didn’t keep it in.

When can we expect your new album?

2021. I’m going to release some singles before then.

If we’re sitting here a year from now celebrating what a great year you’ve had, what would we be celebrating?

Transformation. This has been the year of transformation. I would also like to celebrate stillness and our shadows, and you know, some people have only gotten the chance this year to stop and think and heal and consider things like health, which is everything. So, I honestly could name a million things that could be celebrated but I would sum it all down to transformation.

Thanks so much to Farah for talking with us and for providing us with the photos throughout.

You can find Farah on Facebook here. She is also on Twitter as @FarahElleMusic and Instagram @farahelle. You can find her music on Spotify.

Saoirse Exton / Climate Activist & Founder of Fridays For Future Limerick group

Friday For Future Limerick protesting on Thomas St.

Saoirse Exton

Student Climate Activist / Founder of Fridays For Future Limerick group

In August 2018, a fifteen-year-old Swedish girl took time off school to stand outside government buildings to ask for action on what she called the ‘climate crisis.’ Soon, other students began to join her, and together Greta Thunberg and her fellow strikers organised a school climate strike movement under the name Fridays For Future. There has been some form of protest in some country or another, every week since.

A network of Irish student climate activists was formed under Fridays For Future Ireland, and from that, local FFF groups were established right across the country to strike for climate change. Their aim is:

Exton on Week 1 of FFF Limerick’s school strikes in March

to force the Irish government into taking action on climate change in Ireland, we want our government to align itself with its commitments to the Paris Agreement and to do their part in lowering our emissions to the point where we can limit global climate change to a 1.5 degree average warming target.

In Limerick, fourteen-year-old Saoirse Exton first became aware of the severity of the climate crisis after she heard about the thousands of Australian students who went on strike on 30 November 2018. By researching what was going on, Exton came across Greta Thunberg and like many, was inspired into action.

‘The climate crisis is the most important issue that has faced the human race EVER.’

‘Sick of the negligent government and the dying planet’ she reached out to FFF Ireland and was told that there was no local group in Limerick, but this didn’t stop her. After considering where would be best to draw attention to her protests, she made some posters, started up some social media accounts and from there, the Fridays For Future Limerick group was born. Currently (Sep 2019) Exton does the majority of the social media work (she manages a Twitter, Instagram and Facebook account, as well as a website) but the group is quickly determining how this workload can be divided amongst the members equally. She also does a lot of planning within the group, while also encouraging others to join her, by public speaking. While initially Exton used to strike for the entire day every Friday, she has since moved into her Junior Cert year and has had to shorten the time she spends striking each week but insists that ‘I’m still here!’

‘The days were work-filled, hot and long, but after them we got tasty vegan food and a swim in Lake Geneva, which was incredible!’

Because the FFF movement was reaching an unprecedented scale with strikes worldwide, it was decided that for one week in early August, members from more than 37 countries would meet, which became known as the Summer Meeting in Lausanne Europe (SMILE). The meeting aimed ‘to create a global cohesion and coordination through several conferences, workshops and discussions. For our future, for a better society, for our planet.’ Exton, Caitlín and Roisín ní Chaoindealbhain all represented FFF Limerick and attended meetings with up to 400 other people from around the world at which the ‘demands, strategic goals and values and principles of FFF Europe’ were discussed. Whilst there, they met Greta Thunberg, who Exton remarked was quite a lot smaller in person than one might think and made friends with students from all over Europe.

‘Unity is the key to overcoming the climate crisis because people power is the only way. We have to put aside our individual differences and band together to send a message to the ones in power that enough is enough, and we want change.’

Exton addressing the SIPTU Limerick District Council meeting, 29 Aug 2019.

Exton is a true believer in unity and people power when it comes to tackling the climate crisis. She quoted the findings of the Carbon Majors Report which found that ‘just 100 companies have been the source of more than 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988.’ ‘How can we overcome the powerful?’ she wondered. ‘By binding together and pitching all our little bits of power in. We will become more powerful than the rich companies killing our planet.’

‘It’s amazing to think that our protests, here in Limerick, have an effect on people from different parts of the world.’

Generally, FFF Limerick have had a good response on the ground, and plenty of support from students and adults alike – on more than one occasion the student strikers have been offered punnets of strawberries by passers-by. Exton has been particularly appreciative of the Brazilian people who have stopped to talk to her about the Amazon Rainforest. She said that they in turn have appreciated the fact that small groups in places like Ireland care enough to go out and try to bring as much attention to the rainforest fires as possible and demand change from their government.

‘Our lungs are on fire.’ FFF Limerick protesting the Amazon Rainforest fire.

On 20 September 2019, a mass school strike is organised to take place across the globe, with nine strikes confirmed across the island of Ireland alone. Exton has been busy helping to organise a strike in Limerick, with the theme: Unity. Anyone attending will be asked to assemble at Arthur’s Quay at 1pm before heading through the streets to City Hall ‘for speeches, music and rallying.’ While FFF Limerick protest in the area every week, this will be the first time they march through the streets. In order that as many students strike as possible, another student activist from FFF Limerick, Iona Logan - with the help of her mother - drafted a letter to the Limerick City school management boards and principles regarding the upcoming strike. In the letter, it was mentioned that education on the climate crisis should be mandatory in their schools and that they hoped for their support at the 20 September strike. Appended to the letter was about fifty signatures ‘from a really wide range of Limerick people, young and old.’ As of 11 September, they had not received a response.

‘Your goal is to achieve climate justice wherever you live!’

Update: August 2021

In August 2021, we caught up with Saoirse again to see how she has been getting on. She had the following to say:

‘The past two years have been absolutely insane. I spent most of my time working on my activism. In the beginning of lockdown in 2020, I was heavily involved with Fridays for Future International, attending meetings and contributing to various Working Groups, but after a while, I decided to turn my focus to other pursuits, such as student activism.

In May 2020, I was elected as Equality Officer of the Irish Second-Level Students' Union, where I began to work on various projects, such as writing ISSU's first Accessibility Guidelines, and creating the role of Disability Officer. In October, I was selected to become a Country Coordinator for the Conference of Youth, which will be happening before COP26 in Glasgow. In November, I was selected to become a member of the youth-led MockCOP26, which was a mock session of one of the most important meetings of leaders and lobbyists on climate change in the United Nations. In November, I also started transition year work experience with Brian Leddin, a local TD, as well as being selected as a member of the C40 Global Youth and Mayors Forum, which aims to provide a dialogue between youth activists and mayors of mega-cities.

In January 2021, I finished up my year with the Climate Ambassador Program, and was awarded an Outstanding Achievement Award for my year of action. I also finished up my term as Public relations Officer with Comhairle na nÓg. In March, I became a Youth Advisory Group member for the Environmental Protection Agency, where I contributed to the Youth Engagement Strategy and presented the report's findings to the Senior Leadership Team. In May, I became a member of the National Youth Council Ireland's Young People's Committee, in June I became a member of Friends of the Earth's System Reset team, and in July, I became a member of the European Youth Parliament. It has been an insane and busy year!’

FFF Limerick on 20 Sept. 2019

Like all student strikers, Exton is eager for more people to get involved on the climate issue. She recommends doing the following:

·         Research; Read up on things, follow climate strikers from all over the world, read the latest FFF news, follow websites, etc.

·         Plan; begin planning where and when you are going to start your strike. Usually a very central place is good, where you can catch the attention of media and passers-by easily. People generally protest in front of local/ national/ international Government buildings, so politicians going into work will see you protesting.

·         Strike; write letters to local/ national/ international politicians and media about the climate, write to your school, speak to your boss or your union and try and get them to join for the big strikes.

The stress and seriousness of the climate crisis – and trying to resolve it – can become overwhelming, as Exton is aware. While keeping the end goal in mind, she tries not to do so much as to get burnt out and keeps her supporters close-by.

If you want to follow the work being done by Saoirse and her fellow students strikers, you can find them on Twitter (@Fridaysforfut18), Instagram (@fridaysforfuture.limerick) and blog (fridaysforfuturelimerick.home.blog).

If you’re in Ireland and want to get involved, you can contact: Info@FridaysForFuture.ie

Sources:

Thanks to Saoirse Exton and her mam Geraldine, for talking to me about FFF Limerick.

Fridays For Future Ireland, online at fridaysforfuture.ie [accessed 11 Sep. 2019].

Smile For Future, online at smileforfuture.eu [accessed 11 Sep. 2019].

The Guardian, 10 July 2017.

Liberties Legends

FOUR GREAT LIBERTIES WOMEN

The Liberties in Dublin is one of the oldest communities in the city. Many who live there can trace their families back generations. It is an area that has had its problems over the years, like many communities in the city. But the Liberties has never been a community that gives up and that is thanks in part to the amazing women who live there. Like the area they love, they are strong, resilient, have a bit of an attitude but above all else they are proud and they love their community. There are so many wonderful women to choose from, but the four women who have been chosen to represent the Liberties capture the essence of the Liberties and what that community means to those who live there from political revolutionaries to social revolutionaries, these women are formidable. They are Anne Devlin, loyal comrade of Robert Emmet, who sacrificed so much for the freedom of Ireland. Madge and Rita Fagan who have over 80 years of community activism between them, fighting for tenant’s rights, worker’s rights and women’s rights. And Liz O’Connor from Oliver Bond who, for over the last twenty years and more has dedicated herself to improving the lives of the children of the local community. All of these women are heroes. They do not do this work for the recognition, they do it because they love their community and for them to be a part of this festival is just a small way for the community to say ‘Thank You’.

Written by local herstorian Liz Gillis

MADGE AND RITA FAGAN

Madge (Margaret) Fagan was a pioneer of working-class women to become involved in social activism to better the lives of those who lived in her community, the Liberties.

For over fifty years Madge fought for the rights of local authority tenants. She was a founding member of the Marrowbone Lane Tenants Association in 1966, whose work helped lead to the formation of the National Association of Tenants’ Organisations (Nato).

Together with other Nato members, Masge campaigned for differential rents, so that no tenant would have to pay more than 10 per cent of income in rent. In 1972, Nato organised a rent strike over the government’s proposal to put four pence on each local authority room. More than 100,000 tenants took part in the strike, which continued for 18 months. Fagan and other women leaders were prominent at the barricades protesting against evictions.

MADGE AND RITA FAGAN

Following the success of this, she campaigned for a better maintenance service for tenants as well as tackling the scourge of anti-social behaviour in her own neighbourhood.

Madge Fagan was a force of nature who loved her community and would and did everything she possibly could to improve the lives of all of those in the area. Madge died on 11 February 2017 aged 94. She is greatly missed by all who knew her.

Rita Fagan is a proud Liberties woman and is the daughter of Madge Fagan, so community activism runs through her veins. She went to the sewing factory at 14. Through the 14 years there she became active in the Trade Union Movement. She spent 11 years voluntary and 1 fulltime in the Dublin Simon Community. From here she was sponsored by good people to partake in the Community & Youth work course in NUI Maynooth. On a placement from this course, Rita came to St. Michaels Estate. 25 years later she is still in this struggle with this grassroots community and is the director of the Family Resource Centre, Women’s Community Development Project. She has travelled widely and has been involved politically in the issues effecting Central America and Cuba. For 9 years she led a protest outside of the U.S. Embassy challenging U.S. foreign policy in the said region. She is also committed to the struggle of women at grassroots level who are very much on the margins and who’s struggle on a daily basis is to survive structural poverty, last but by no means least she believes, that the struggle for justice and freedom not only embodies pain but also joy through celebrating our lives and the outcome of the struggle. Like her mother Madge, Rita has fought and campaigned to make the lives of those in her community and other working-class areas better.

LIZ O’CONNOR

Liz O’Connor is from Oliver Bond and works in the Liberties where for the last forty years she has dedicated her life to community activism, especially in relation to the local children. Over the last twenty years Liz has run a Breakfast Club and an after school club and runs a summer camp every year. Liz O’Connor’s generosity knows no bounds. She is truly a remarkable woman who is the first to lend a hand, or help somebody with a problem. She is a force of nature and her dedication to her community is amazing. That dedication has rightly been recognised. In 2016 Liz received the Lord Mayor’s Award for her work with children and in 2017 she was awarded Person of the Year at the Liberties Awards.  Liz best sums up her reasons for doing what she does: “There’s a great sense of community here in the Liberties and I just love working with the kids, I suppose you could say it’s my calling.”

LIZ O’CONNOR

ANNE DEVLIN (1780-1851)

Anne Devlin was Robert Emmet’s assistant as he planned his abortive rising of 1803. Arrested in it’s aftermath, she was held in Dublin Castle and Kilmainham Gaol in an attempt to get her to reveal the identities of Emmet’s co-conspirators and financial backers, to no avail. Despite three years of mental and physical torture, Anne refused to break until eventually released, broken in body but not in spirit.

For the remainder of her life the police followed her. Anyone seen speaking with her was a potential enemy of the State and taken for questioning. This ensured Anne was, in effect, in solitary confinement in an open prison for the 45 years she lived outside jail, as all who had known her now shunned her, fearful of the policeman dogging her steps.

She died in a miserable garret in the Liberties of Dublin on September 18, 1851, starving, ill, and in agony … but unbowed, proud to the last that she had remained faithful to Robert Emmet and his ideals, proud that she had stood alone and successfully against the mightiest empire the world had known.

Patrick Pearse wrote:

“Wherever Emmet is commemorated let Anne Devlin not be forgotten … The fathers and mothers of Ireland should tell their children (the) story of Anne Devlin. When at night you kiss your children and in your hearts call down a benediction, you could wish for … no greater gift from God than such fidelity as Anne Devlin's”.

ANNE DEVLIN (1780-1851)

Dr Katherine Zappone and Dr Ann Louise Gilligan

Dr Katherine Zappone and Dr Ann Louise Gilligan

 Katherine and Ann Louise’s story is a love story. One which crossed continents, oceans and ultimately to the highest courts in the land in a fight for equality.

They met in Boston College in 1981 when both began a PhD programme, Ann Louise came from Dublin and Katherine from New York City, though originally from Seattle.

It was love at first sight and a year after meeting they gathered a small group of friends to celebrate a life-partnership ceremony where they promised to share dreams, fears, financial resources, accomplishments and failures.

 In 1983 Katherine and Ann Louise moved to Ireland, an Ireland almost unrecognisable today.

 It would be a decade later after a long legal battle by Senator David Norris before the laws changed to decriminalise homosexual behaviour.

 During this period Katherine and Ann Louise were active within the civic sphere in relation to many human rights issues.

 Beginning as The Shanty in September 1986, they established a community-based project as a platform for active citizenship and transformational education.

Since September 1999, An Cosán has been located in Jobstown, at the base of the beautiful Dublin mountains, nestled in a three story building.

Today it is Ireland’s largest such community education organisation – supporting people in communities across the country.

 The personal origins of a legal case for equality began late in 2001—after 19 years of life-partnership—when an impending visit to Chile prompted an updating of wills.

 Deciding to ‘get affairs in order’ just in case anything might happen while abroad they discovered that unlike married couples who jointly co-own property, they could not will half of their property to the other upon death, without major capital acquisition taxation implications.

 One of the primary reasons to take a case was to break the public silence about partnership recognition between same-sex couples.

 With the support of a small network of family, friends and supporters – including a small legal team - in July 2003 the decision was taken to take a constitutional case.

 Such was their love that eight weeks later they married in British Colombia, Canada – the only place in the world this could happen.

 What followed was a case against the Irish State, the Minister for Justice and the Attorney General.

It was November 2004 that in full glare of the world’s media permission of the High Court was sought to proceed with the case.

A packed courtroom heard Judge McKechnie conclude his ruling by saying

“A number of deeply held values, and so on, are up for consideration. The issue of marriage itself is up for debate. The ramifications of the case will not stop here.”

 Leave for a judicial review was granted. 

Ireland’s debate had begun.

A March 2006 appearance the Late Late Show brought the love story to the attention of the nation.

Then host Pat Kenny noted that then Taoiseach,Bertie Ahern did not believe a referendum would pass. After inviting a show of hands from the audience Pat finished by saying ‘Bertie, you were wrong!’

 A case across the autumn and winter October 3rd produced a written judgement 138 pages long.

As the Court saw it Katherine and Ann Louise did not have the right to marry here under the constitution because that right is confined to the union of a man and a woman.

That dark moment led to a new national movement.

 In February 2008 friends, feminists and supporters gathered around the kitchen table in Ann Louise and Katherine’s home. The organisation ‘Marriage Equality’ was born.

 Katherine and Ann Louise were very clear – the mission was for full equality not second class marriage.

Civil Partnership did become a reality but it was not enough.

 Political changes brought new hope. In June 2011 the establishment of a Citizen’s Assembly reignited the campaign.

Ann Louise, Katherine and fellow campaigners were able to re-assure nervous politicians that the support was there for a referendum – and a referendum which would pass.

Stories were shared – stories which struck a chord with fellow citizens. 

As campaigners and activists the community recognised the need to work together, one voice, agreed messaging.

These efforts culminated in that fantastic day at Dublin Castle in May 2015, when Ireland became the first country in the world to say yes to Marriage Equality by popular vote.

In January 2016 at Dublin City Hall the President, Members of Government and many other friends, and their families,  joined Katherine and Ann Louise for a very moving ceremony. They not only renewed their vows – they brought their marriage home!

 After a short illness Ann Louise Gilligan passed away on 15th June 2017. Katherine is the only Independent Woman serving in the Irish Cabinet, after being elected a TD in May 2016 and subsequently appointed as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, where the fight for equality and social justice continues.

Mary Harney / Academic and Activist

MARY HARNEY

House Painter, Academic and Activist

Mary, in her own words: "Some may think my life has been hard, but I like to think of it as being full of wonder, beauty and passion. I think a great deal about the times when someone had faith in me: in my abilities, my intelligence and in the promise of my future."

Mary Harney

Mary (left) at the Good Shepard Industrial School

Mary (left) at the Good Shepard Industrial School

Mary's mother

Mary & her partner Margy

Mary & her partner Margy

Mary & her partner Margy

Mary Harney was born in a Mother and Baby Institution in Bessboro, Cork. Born out of wedlock, considered to be an ‘illegitimate’ child by the State, Mary was removed from her mother at age two and a half years. Mary was illegally “fostered” and at age five she was taken under Ward of Court and incarcerated in the Good Shepherd Industrial School. Like many children, Mary suffered beatings and daily labour at this school. Education consisted of religion, reading, writing, and arithmetic. One day, a teacher, Miss O’Donnell – ‘Miss’— noticing bruises on Mary’s arms, advised her to use stories and her imagination during the beatings to lessen the feelings of pain. Miss also told her to keep reading as you can teach yourself anything if you can read.

At 16 ½, Mary was released from the Good Shepherd. She discovered libraries and delved into History, Literature, and Geography. At 17, Mary went to London, to look for her Mother. She wandered for a period, homeless. She eventually traced her Mother and they were reunited in Cardiff Wales, where Mary discovered she had two sisters. Craving adventure, she signed-up to be a soldier, and without formal education, passed the entrance exam. When Mary finished her Army service, she joined the London Fire Brigade as an emergency dispatcher for twenty years.

In her 40s, Mary applied to third-level education only to find she was not eligible. She decided to travel. On her travels in America, she came upon College of the Atlantic in Maine, USA. She applied to study there and despite her lack of education she was accepted. Mary was an activist at college. She helped form peer education groups that went into high schools and taught HIV/AIDS prevention through the medium of art and theatre. The team was also part of the first state-wide ‘Growing up Gay’ conference in Maine. In 1996, Mary graduated with a BA in Human Ecology. The proudest moment was seeing her Mother there cheering for her. 

In 2012, Mary returned to Ireland - the place that had denied both her mother and a formal education - to pursue a Master’s Degree in Irish Studies. Mary graduated in 2013 from the National University of Ireland Galway with first class honours. In 2014, the student body of College Of Atlantic unanimously voted for Mary Harney to be guest speaker at Commencement. At this ceremony, she was surprised with a honourary Masters of Philosophy. Since then Mary has lectured College undergraduates and other groups in Irish history, She is currently taking part in the Collaborative Forum for transitional justice for mothers and children that were institutionalized in Irelands’ notorious mother and baby units. And she “ain’t done yet”— at age 70, Mary is applying to study for an LLM in Human Rights in autumn 2019.