Sunday 1st March, 2009 at 12 noon: The Lord Mayor Eibhlin Byrne formally launches the programme of events organised by Dublin City Council in celebration of International Women’s Day.
In 2007 Dublin City Council established an IWD Working Group to ensure that International Women’s Day is permanently etched into the political, social, economic and cultural calendar of the City. This year’s events are wide-ranging and are scheduled to take place during the weeks before and after the 8th March.
This event focuses on women sharing their achievements within communities and invited speakers will present their experience of community regeneration, inter-culturalism, the experience of older persons and enterprise creation in the City. A keynote address will be delivered by Ailbhe Smyth.
Eibhlin Byrne is the 339th Lord Mayor of Dublin and only the 6th female to hold that office, together with Emer Costello, Deputy Lord Mayor, this is a very unusual occasion where both the Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor are women.
The Lord Mayor welcoming people to the launch said “International Women’s Day is an important occasion to focus on the achievements of women throughout the world and even more importantly to promote the greater involvement of women in every aspect of social, economic and political life. I want to congratulate Dublin City Council’s Working Group for putting in place this interesting programme of events”.
Councillor Emer Costello, Deputy Lord Mayor and Chair of the IWD Working Group, said at the event “We are here celebrating the remarkable achievements of ordinary women working in the community and the contribution that they make to the development of Dublin city. Dublin City Council is to be congratulated for taking the initiative in this regard and I recently had a motion passed at the Association of City and County Councils encouraging other local authorities to celebrate International Women’s Day”.
As part of its awareness raising campaign the IWD Working Group has organised for flags to be flown on the city quayside outside the Civic Offices in celebration of International Women’s Day and for banners to be placed in George’s Street promoting the event.
In conjunction with IWD the Dublin City Public Libraries are putting out a call for donations of ephemera relating to the movement for social reform in the last quarter of the 20th century, covering topics of equality, contraception, abortion, etc. These items will form part of the collection of the Libraries and will be available for public use in years to come.
Details of all events organised are available on www.dublincity.ie
ENDS
For further information contact: Dublin City Council Press Office 01 222 2170 or 086 815 0010
Notes to the Editor
Speakers:
Ailbhe Smyth
Ailbhe has been active in the women's movement in Ireland since the late 1970s and is co-convenor of the recently formed group, Feminist Open Forum. She set up the Women's Education Research and Resource Centre (WERRC) at UCD in 1990 and has served on numerous State Boards including the Higher Education Authority and as a Trustee of the National Library. She has worked extensively with community-based and national voluntary sector organisations on women's and equality issues, and is also Chair of the National Lesbian and Gay Federation.
Ruth Murray/Nadine Murphy
Ruth and Nadine are both regeneration workers from O’Devany Gardens. They will be relating their experience of community activism, the reasons for involvement, achievements and challenges facing community regeneration.
Salomé Mbugua
Salome is the founder and national director of AkiDwA (the African Women’s Network Ireland). Her background is in social work and gender equality. She has 17 years experience of working with marginalised groups in Kenya, Uganda and Ireland. Salomé will relate her experience of establishing inter-cultural relations and networks for women in the City.
Janice Lau Burke
Janice is an accountant and partner with CrowleysDFK. Janice will relate on her experience and knowledge of business in the City, the role played by women in business and financial services and the opportunities present for women to engage in entrepreneurship and careers in business.
Ann Henrick
Ann is photographer from Mayo. In collaboration with Maeve Binchy, Ann has published a book “A Time to Dance” which celebrates the life and experience if Irish senior citizens.
Details of all events organised are available on www.dublincity.ie