Seven lady legends involving themselves in Irish legislation
Who help keep the faith that all is not lost for the progression of human rights in Ireland
Certain female politicians proved themselves to be blooming brilliant this week in the country’s effort to tackle COVID-19.
In that spirit I have compiled for you a list that is in no particular order of preference- nor an exhaustive list- but a representation of the quality of politician either in public office, or campaigned to be, that I most admire.
You’d see me rush my make-up and leg it to an ATM as quickly as possible just so I can catch a few pints with them if I suddenly found out they were all sat round a table in a nearby pub.
Róisín Shortall
For pressing for the Level 5 Support Bubble be extended to provide social units to single people living alone.
I love how Róisín and her ilk don’t always have the nuclear 2.4 children family unit and similar familial groupings on autopilot when designing large scale mechanisms for the public.
A thoroughly modern outlook to life.
Catherine Murphy
Wasn’t it wonderful that Catherine was able to call a male senior in her workplace, i.e Micheál Martin, to evidence of his lack of awareness of how desperate the contact tracing system was in our hospitals.
I find it quite antiquated that we as women aren’t confident enough to require in our management cohort to reach for as much professionalism and attention to detail as they require of us.
Note to self: be more Catherine Murphy.
Lynn Ruane
Lynn gets the platinum gold trophy for the least amount of platitudes used in making speeches in the Seanad, and in the interviews she has with journalists.
And she keeps working away at societal issues regardless of how fashionable they are for the love she has for people like her- the friends and family she grew up with.
This week is a big week for her. She’s working hard on reforming spent convictions legislation which is this whole thing that makes it hard for those who’ve committed small crimes (often as a way to release themselves from immediate poverty because they feel alienated from public society) to work in certain careers. Often these careers are vocations in which they have first hand knowledge in that they could offer real help to.
Also, she wears fabulous footwear to her day job. Comfortable great looking statement runners!!
Saoirse McHugh
First of all, she’s Achill Island people; I show my bias in saying this island has a fantastic community having gone there for holidays and spending time with aunts and cousins having a laugh.
I remember during my time attempting staying in one of my latter medical device factories for another week longer. I never seemed to gather enough strength to practice Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to tackle my thought patterns around expectations placed on me by management as designed at corporate level.
Firstly, I was given evening and night shifts in my last few factories (in each new factory that you work in this industry you generally have to take what you are given as a new hire, regardless of your CV), which effected my sleep negatively which in turn definitely had an effect on my brain capacity.
Secondly, I always felt that I would be playing catch up in my brain using CBT with each new work system goal post that seemed to be introduced way too regularly, that in turn was established at fancy pants meetings between people we operators never met that felt so removed to what we experienced on the ground.
During this time luckily Saoirse had tweeted a link to an article titled The Mindfulness Conspiracy with it’s subtitle ‘it is sold as a force that can help us cope with the ravages of capitalism, but with its inward focus, mindful meditation may be the enemy of activism’.
Knowing in myself that I wasn’t a slacker in my workday, I ultimately felt my CBT would be me knocking against a brick wall.
Saoirse just seems to get that about human beings and our current interactions with the workplace.
Clare Daly
Clare is now over in Europe with her pals Luke Ming Flanagan and Mick Wallace. But she was one of a few TD’s publicly into repealing the 8th way before it was cool, as women of my age grouping were becoming adults. Way before there was this hunbelievably strong showstopping public hashtag ally-ship to the cause with its myriad of tote bags, and jumpers and iconic wall art.
A repeated memory of mine was watching the RTÉ Six One news with my family as a young adult in the sitting room; it felt like it was her that I heard most often making soundbites that covered the issue.
I don’t want to assume what she must have been thinking in the long years way before a Citizen’s Assembly was ever announced, but it felt like she was consistently committed to the specific hopes and dreams of women effected by this legislation in such a strikingly independent way and that might have been lonely.
Mary Lou McDonald
For years I didn’t understand Sinn Féin (I’m not a political nerd but I do like to be versed in who has their name up for elections so that when I vote, the politician that I hope ends up winning the race will execute the necessary policy and legislation that recognises the contribution to society of people in my societal tribe and enable my loved ones to thrive). I thought they just had a load of membership that was there to further the campaign of making our country a 32 country, i.e they hadn’t necessarily an interest in any other public policy up for debate as they continued maintaining presence in public office.
But in the last general election, I was totally bowld over by them and the leadership of Mary Lou McDonald.
First of all, her oration is brilliant. It’s like she has been to eleventy billion Toastmaster evenings, and has excelled at every one of these public speaking lessons.
Secondly, you really feel that she and her party members genuinely want Irish workers not to be stuck in this toxic rat race anymore, and reap the rewards in their personal life for the hard work that they do in their jobs.
Bríd Smith
For as long as I remember, she had been in the benches of Leinster House campaigning to improve one of the most important national resources- the housing market- and making it more equal. Without people having a dignified roof over their heads, there is no way they have the mental and physical capacity to be valuable members of society.
Each year she is there, Bríd doesn’t seem to let this issue go by the way side. She even had to speak to the government like a diligent mother about the Residential and Tenancy 2020 Bill which if not enacted would result in a huge sleuth of people being made homeless. She said this would make the COVID-19 virus spread much worse.
I could have added even more fabulous women, but I wanted to keep the amount of concepts written about small. I hope you enjoyed reading it; perhaps you might see another few brilliant women written about right here on my blog down the line.