Women’s rights campaigner laid to rest

The funeral has taken place of feminist and women’s rights campaigner Mamo McDonald, a leading figure in the Irish Countrywomen’s Association (ICA) over the decades.

Ms McDonald, late of Clones and Drumully, Smithborough, Co Monaghan, passed away, peacefully, at St Anne's Nursing Home in Ballybay on Thursday, June 17.

Her funeral took place on Monday last (June 21) having lain in repose at her family home on Sunday evening until removal at the Sacred Heart Chapel in Clones.

After funeral mass, Ms McDonald's remains were cremated at Lakelands Crematorium in Cavan.

Hundreds lined the route in tribute to the late Ms McDonald as her funeral cortège travelled to the chapel via The Diamond and Fermanagh Street on Sunday evening.

Born Mary Frances Bowen in Tuam, Co Galway (1929), from a family of five girls and one boy, Ms McDonald married Eugene McDonald in 1950.

After her husband died in 1979, Ms McDonald was left to raise her family of 11.

Ms McDonald first joined the ICA while living in Croom, Co Limerick, around 1947.

It was to be a defining path for her, serving as the organisation's chair from 1982 to 1985, and also playing a major role in ICA's acceptance as part of the women's movement in late-20th century Ireland.

In a tribute posted by the ICA on social media, the organisation described the late Ms McDonald as a “traditionalist whose views were altered” by membership of the ICA.

“The ICA had a role in encouraging her to be more assertive and competitive offering new experiences and learning new skills. For Mamo, joining the ICA was the equivalent of obtaining a third level qualification.”

Ms McDonald's marriage required she leave her job working at a bank in Cavan. It prompted the entrepreneurial Ms McDonald to start a tea shop in Clones, from where she became a leading proponent of community self-help.

Ms McDonald was also a former chair of the Age and Opportunity organisation and, in 1999, received a People of the Year award for her services to Irish women and older people.

In 1999, age 69 years, Ms McDonald fulfilled a life-long ambition when setting out on a back-packing adventure through Southern India. She commenced her three-week trek in the first ever UN International Year of Older Persons. She had been an intrepid explorer through North America for many years before that.

At age 72, Ms McDonald she took up studying for a Masters Degree in Women's Studies in UCD.

In her youth, she played camogie and tennis as a boarding pupil at the Dominican College in Sion Hill, Dublin, holidaying at home with her siblings back in Galway.

She died at St Anne’s Nursing Home in Ballybay last week, the same care facility at which she recovered from COVID-19 last year.

In a more recent interview on RTÉ’s This Week programme, Ms McDonald spoke about the immense “fortitude” of older people living in Ireland during the pandemic. “They have got used to so much and there is not going to be so much now for them after this.”

She often noted too how she came from a long line of strong women, including both her grandmothers.

Predeceased by her husband Eugene and son Vincent, Ms McDonald is survived by her children Eoin (Carndonagh), Darach (Derry), Donald (Clones), Cathryn Ganley (Ballisodare), Brian (Rockcorry), Niamh McCluskey (Smithborough), Lonan (Blackrock), Frank (Clones), Niall (Sligo) and Ross (Rockcorry), and an extended family that includes 32 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, and many friends.