Remembering smashing times at the Castle

» Mícheál Mac Donncha

100 years ago on 6 February 1918, women finally won the right to vote. A great leader of the Irish suffragettes was Hanna Sheehy Skeffington - feminist and Irish republican.

100 years ago on 6 February 1918, women finally won the right to vote. A great leader of the Irish suffragettes was Hanna Sheehy Skeffington - feminist and Irish republican.

In June 1912 in protest for votes for women, she broke windows in Dublin Castle, seat of British rule in Ireland. On the morning of 6 February 2018 at the Castle her grand-daughter Micheline Sheehy Skeffington re-enacted that smashing act. Dublin City Council will be erecting a plaque to mark the site.

Hanna’s husband, the pacifist Francis, was murdered by a British Army officer during the 1916 Rising. Hanna toured the USA to tell her story and went on to play a leading role in Sinn Féin, opposed the Treaty and campaigned all her life for women's rights and Irish freedom.

After the Castle event, Sinn Féin Ardmhéara Bhaile Átha Cliath Mícheál Mac Donncha hosted a reception in the Mansion House where Micheline gave a wonderful talk on Hanna. There were tunes as well from the Dublin Lasses traditional musicians. And the Ardmhéara introduced Micheline for the first time to the great grandson of James Connolly - James Connolly Heron.

* Micheline Sheehy Skeffington has written a foreword to the recently published 'Hanna Sheehy Skeffington - Suffragette and Sinn Féiner - her Memoirs and Political Writings' edited by Margaret Ward, published by UDC Press.