Dissidents: Irish Republican Women 1923-1941

by Ann Matthews

Overview

During the War of Independence around 10,000 Irishwomen were actively involved in the fight for Irish freedom. So why, with the outbreak of Civil War and in the years following this conflict, did the role of women in Irish politics steadily decline until by the early 1940s only a handful of women were involved? 'Dissidents' explores the reasons for this decline. From the divisions caused by the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which led to a fatal splintering of the women's Republican organisation Cumann na mBan, through the effects of internment during the Civil War on female prisoners and the relegation of the majority of women in Irish politics to the margins, Ann Matthews reveals the story of Republican women in the years following Irish independence. She also asks whether they were responsible for their own demise in the political arena, leaving future generations of Irish women without a foundation on which to build.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781856359955
Publisher:	Mercier Press, Limited, The
Publication date:	08/01/2012
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Ann Matthews is a historian. Originally from Dublin, she now lives in Kildare. She currently lectures at NUI Maynooth on 'Women and War' and 'Republican Women and Iconography'. She has contributed to The Journal of Irish Military History and The Irish Archive Journal. She has also contributed chapters to 'The Impact of the 1916 Rising: Among the Nations', (ed) Ruan O'Donnell (2008) and 'Associational Culture in Ireland and Abroad' (eds) Jennifer Kelly R.V Comerford Eds) (2010). She is the author of 'Renegades' (2010) and 'The Kimmage Garrison 1916: Making Billy Can-Bombs at Larkfield' (2010).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 5

Abbreviations 7

Introduction 9

1 Rumblings of Dissension 13

2 The Republican Triad, 1922-23 18

3 Internment of Republican Women 44

4 Kilmainham Female Prison 63

5 The North Dublin Union 84

6 Collapse of the Republican Triad, 1924-26 120

7 Anti-Climax and Reality, 1924-26 140

8 A New Political Reality 163

9 The Flanders Poppy and the Easter Lily, 1921-35 190

10 Commemoration and Conflict in the Irish Free State 1933-1937 208

11 Into the Political Wilderness 227

Appendix 1 The 645 Women Interned During The Civil War 257

Appendix 2 Constitution of Seán T. O'Kelly's Cumann na Poblachta Anti-Treaty Party 287

Appendix 3 Pact Election Agreement, 20 May 1922 289

Appendix 4 Sinn Fein Manifesto on Hunger Strike 290

Appendix 5 Hunger Strikes of Female Prisoners During The Civil War Period 292

Appendix 6 A Survey of the Occupations of Seventy-Nine Women in the NDU, 28 August 1923 294

Appendix 7 Local Government Act, No. 5/1925 Section 71 295

Appendix 8 Constitution of Cumann Na gCailíní 297

Appendix 9 List of Women Involved with the Organisations Listed as Dangerous by the Free State CID, 1930 299

Appendix 10 Statement Disseminated By Nodhlaig Brugha, Secretary, on Behalf of Mná na Poblachta 301

Appendix 11 The Thirty-Seven Women at the Cumann na mBan Annual Convention, 10 June 1933 303

Appendix 12 Decline in Numbers of Branches of Cumann Na mBan from 1934 to 1936 305

Appendix 13 Republican Co-Ordinating Committee, 13 October 1936 308

Endnotes 311

Bibliography 338

Index 346