In a unique community initiative, compliant with COVID-19 restrictions and supported by Tipperary County Council and Cahir Social and Historical Society, Cahir is today celebrating International Women’s Day. By stealth and under cover of darkness last night, the Daughters of Dún Iascaigh, a small team of local women, who were dressed in Cumann na mBan uniforms and other costumes of the period, secretly erected 24 temporary plaques at key locations to acknowledge the contribution women have made to the town over the centuries. This project has received funding as part of the Tipperary Commemorations programme with funding from Tipperary County Council and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
Featuring the work of celebrated Irish artist, Alice Maher, a native of Cahir, the plaques commemorate a diverse group of trailblazing women, ranging from the first female councillor in County Tipperary to a rebel nun, a socialist, a war time nurse, a suffragette, a war victim, a single mother, an actress and an artist. Badamair, the first lady of Cahir; the women of the Famine; ordinary mothers, who struggled to bring up their children; the unwed, pregnant women who were sent to Mother and Baby Homes, and those who participated in the Land League, Cumann na mBan and the Anti-Conscription Movement are also remembered. This community outreach follows the success of the 2018 Tipperary Book of the Year, “Daughters of Dún Iascaigh: A Light on the History of Cahir Women”, which was published to mark the centenary of the first election in which some women were allowed to vote.
People are reminded not to congregate at the site of the maps or plaques and to follow physical social distancing and all other COVID-related precautions at all times.
