In this talk, Dr Aoife Whelan will give an overview of the political activism of Mary Josephine 'Min' Ryan (later Mulcahy) and her sisters from Tomcoole, County Wexford. Best known nowadays for the public park that bears her name, Min was a founding member of Cumann na mBan in 1914 and participated in the 1916 Easter Rising at the GPO in Dublin along with her sister Phyllis and her brother Jim. She was later selected to travel to America on behalf of the Republican leadership to report to John Devoy, leader of Clan na Gael, on the events of Easter Week. Having been involved with Proclamation signatory Seán Mac Diarmada before he was executed for his role in the Rising, Min went on to marry Richard Mulcahy, IRA chief-of-staff and Dáil Éireann's first Minister of Defence.

This lecture will trace the involvement of Min and her sisters in public and political life during the early twentieth century at a time when young, educated women found new opportunities to engage in political and social activism under the auspices of the nationalist movement. 

Dr Aoife Whelan is Director of UCD Centre for Global Irish Studies.  Aoife lectures in Nua-Ghaeilge and in Irish Studies in UCD School of Irish, Celtic Studies and Folklore.  Aoife’s main research interests include Irish language media and film, revival activism and Irish revolutionary history.