This landmark book, reissued with a new foreword to mark the centenary of Irish women being granted the right to vote, is the first comprehensive analysis of the Irish suffrage movement from its mid-nineteenth-century beginnings to when feminist militancy exploded on the streets of Dublin and Belfast in the early twentieth century. Younger, more militant suffragists took their cue from their British counterparts, two of whom travelled to Ireland to throw a hatchet into the carriage of Prime Minister Herbert Asquith on O’Connell Bridge in 1912 (missing him but grazing Home Rule leader John Redmond, who was in the same carriage; both politicians opposed giving women the Vote). Despite such dramatic publicity, and other non-violent campaigning, women’s suffrage was a minority interest in an Ireland more concerned with the issue of gaining independence from Britain. The particular complexity of the Irish struggle is explored with new perspectives on unionist and nationalist suffragists and the conflict between Home Rule and suffragism, campaigning for the vote in country towns, life in industrial Belfast, conflicting feminist views on the First World War, and the suffragist uncovering of sexual abuse and domestic violence, as well as the pioneering use of hunger strike as a political tool. The ultimate granting of the franchise in 1918 represented the end of a long-fought battle by Irish women for the right to equal citizenship, and the beginning of a new Ireland that continues to debate the rights and equality of its female citizens.

The campaign for women's votes in Ireland coincided with the nationalist movement, the First World War, the rise of the trade union movement, the cultural revival and, of course, the 1916 Rising. It culminated in 1918, with Ireland electing the first woman to parliament in London. However, the Irish suffrage movement was not a single-issue group. It did not merely campaign for votes, but also presented a feminist critique of the plight of Irish women in early twentieth-century society. The Irish Citizen newspaper, as the voice of the suffrage movement, provides an important insight into the various campaigns and concerns of this fascinating movement. The paper was self-consciously feminist, and, in addition to covering the major events of this tumultuous period, it addressed taboo subjects like rape, domestic violence, and child abuse. This book brings together extracts from the paper with analysis, commentary, and informative contextual background. First published in 1996 by Folena as "Irish Feminism and the Vote", this new edition has been comprehensively updated and revised. [Subject: Gender Studies, Suffrage Movement, Irish Studies, 20th C. Studies, History, Media Studies]

In the late nineteenth century, an era in which women were expanding the influence outside the home, Irish American women carved out unique opportunities to serve the needs of their communities. For many women, this began with a commitment to Irish nationalism. In Respectability and Reform, McCarthy explores the contributions of a small group of Irish American women in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era who emerged as leaders, organizers, and activists. Profiles of these women suggest not only that Irish American women had a political tradition of their own but also that the diversity of the Irish American community fostered a range of priorities and approaches to activism. McCarthy focuses on three movements—the Irish nationalist movement, the labor movement, and the suffrage movement—to trace the development of women’s political roles. Highlighting familiar activists such as Fanny and Anna Parnell, as well as many lesser-known suffragists, McCarthy sheds light on the range of economic and social backgrounds found among the activists. She also shows that Irish American women’s commitment to social justice persisted from the Land War through the World War I era. In unearthing the rich and varied stories of these Irish American women, Respectablity and Reform deepens our understanding of their intersection with and contribution to the larger context of American women’s activism.

A major new history of the experiences and activities of Irish nationalist women in the early twentieth century.

At 7.20pm on 23rd May 2015, in the courtyard of Dublin Castle, Ireland truly became a nation of equals. Ireland Says Yes is the fast-paced narrative account of all the drama, excitement and highs and lows of the last 100 days of the extraordinary campaign for a Yes vote in the 2015 Marriage Equality Referendum. Those who led the Yes Equality campaign tell the inside story of how the referendum was won, and how Ireland’s two principal gay and lesbian rights organisations put together the most effective and successful civic society campaign ever launched in Irish politics. As well as a drama-packed chronological account of how the Yes campaign was executed, the book explores how social media mobilised a new generation of voters to the polls and how political parties, student unions and youth groups co-ordinated their efforts to deliver one of the most historic referendum results in Irish political history.

“If Tina Fey and David Sedaris had a daughter, she would be Maeve Higgins.” —Glamour A startlingly hilarious essay collection about one woman’s messy path to finding her footing in New York City, from breakout comedy star and podcaster Maeve Higgins Maeve Higgins was a bestselling author and comedian in her native Ireland when, at the grand old age of thirty-one, she left the only home she’d ever known in search of something more and found herself in New York City. Together, the essays in Maeve in America create a smart, funny, and revealing portrait of a woman who aims for the stars but sometimes hits the ceiling and the inimitable city that helped make her who she is. Here are stories of not being able to afford a dress for the ball, of learning to live with yourself while you’re still figuring out how to love yourself, of the true significance of realizing what sort of shelter dog you would be. Self-aware and laugh-out-loud funny, this collection is also a fearless exploration of the awkward questions in life, such as: Is clapping too loudly at a gig a good enough reason to break up with somebody? Is it ever really possible to leave home? “Maeve Higgins is hilarious, poignant, conversational, and my favorite Irish import since U2. You’re in for a treat.” —Phoebe Robinson

Records of the Office of Public Works more than 30 years old have been transferred to the National Archives, Dublin. The types of public works records are described, then listed with call numbers.