Historian, Liz Gillis returns to the Spirit of Mother Jones Festival 2024. 

Liz will speak at the Dance Cork Firkin Crane on the opening evening Thursday 25th July at 7:00 pm. 

Now that the look back during the Decade of Centenaries has finished in 2023 with the end of the Civil War, we will continue to examine how the new state developed. Defeated Republicans either adjusted to the new order or emigrated. However for the women of Ireland, many of whom had actively participated in the Revolution, it became a very cold place. Liz intends to discuss how and why this took place.

According to Liz:

‘The 1916 Proclamation guaranteed ‘religious and civil liberties, equal rights and equal opportunities to all’, yet when independence came, the new Irish state quickly forgot to honour that guarantee. Women were not to be treated equally in the new Ireland. The new Ireland was a patriarchal society where the role of women was to be that of wife and mother.  Was this the Ireland that so many women had fought and sacrificed for? Liz Gillis will discuss how the Ireland that emerged from the revolution was so conservative in its attitudes to women right up to the present time, and in doing so betrayed the vision of the 1916 Leaders.’

Historian and author Liz Gillis is from the Liberties in Dublin. She is the author of six books about the Irish Revolution including, ‘Women of the Irish Revolution’, ‘The Hales Brothers and the Irish Revolution’ and has been a contributor on numerous publications, television and radio documentaries covering the revolutionary period.

She lectures at Champlain College Dublin and in 2021 was appointed the Historian in Residence for South Dublin County Council for the Decade of Centenaries. Liz was the Researcher for the History Show on RTE Radio and was a Historical Consultant for the new Custom House Visitor Centre and Curatorial Assistant in RTE, specialising in researching the Easter Rising. In 2018 she was the recipient of the Lord Mayor of Dublin’s Award for her contribution to history.

Date: Thursday 25th July 2024. Time: 7pm. Venue: Dance Cork Firkin Crane. All Welcome.  Liz will be followed by historian Anne Twomey. Discussion will follow.