Symposium to explore life and times of Cavan's Agnes O'Farrelly

A Symposium marking the life and times of Cavan woman Agnes O’Farrelly will take place on March 2 at St Kilian’s Heritage Centre in Mullagh. Agnes, who was born at Raffoney House in Virginia on June 24, 1874, worked tirelessly to improve the status of women and place them on an equal footing with their male counterparts.

Ironically, as the country faces into referenda on Constitutional change in the coming weeks, Agnes O’Farrelly campaigned vigorously against the Irish Constitution 1937 because of her belief that it ‘diminished’ the rights of women, especially when compared with the 1922 Constitution.

The following year female teachers were forced to retire upon marriage; the year after, all women working in the civil service were required by law to step down from their roles once married.

Education and the Irish language were close to Agnes’ heart. She attended the Dominican Academy in Dublin and was awarded an MA; studied Irish under Eoin MacNéill; and spent summers on Inis Meáin on the Aran Islands.

Madeleine Uí Mhéalóid, one of the organiser’s of the Symposium added: “Agnes fought several fights for women to get on an equal level with men in university. Eventually the Women’s Graduate Association was replaced and women were allowed to attend university alongside their male counterparts.”

Meanwhile, Agnes was bilingual and wrote in both Irish and English. Her first published work appeared in The Anglo-Celt in early 1895.

She became principal of Coláiste Uladh in Gortahook, Co Donegal, from 1906 to 1946 and was “sincere and committed” to promoting the Irish language.

In 1899, Agnes founded ‘The Women’s Branch’ of The Gaelic League and became an executive committee member in 1898. She became honorary president of the Ulster Camogie Association and joined the national Camogie Association in 1934.

Agnes chaired the first meeting of Cumann na mBan in 1924 but later left the organisation over the issue of Irishmen joining the British Army during WW1. She didn’t agree with women using or carrying arms, and left Conradh na Gaeilge in protest when the organisation became militant.

The Symposium, meanwhile, hopes to shed more light on the influential Co Cavan woman. She, like many women of the time, was side tracked in the history books and this week’s event aims to place firmly on the record the role Agnes O’Farrelly played in achieving equality for women on these shores.

“We aim to explore her life and times,” said Ms Uí Mhéalóid.

“We want to mark the fact that Agnes played an enormous role in securing equality for women in Ireland.”

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