The 2023 Spirit of Mother Jones Festival will occur from Thursday, 27th July, over three days and nights until Saturday, 29th July. It will be based at the Shandon Maldron Hotel, and the events will all be held in and around the old historic community of Shandon.
The 12th annual festival will consist of talks, lectures, walks, documentaries, songs, music, and discussions. The festival celebrates the life of Mary Harris/Mother Jones, who was born nearby in 1837. The festival content reflects the union labour, social justice and human rights values of Mother Jones in the current times. The festival aims to be interesting, relevant and challenging.
The complete official programme of events is available here to download, and hard copies will be available through the Cork City and County Libraries and elsewhere in the city.
*Important Update – 10.07.2023:
Please note this is a revised programme of events. Speaker Mick Lynch is now listed to speak on Thursday, 27th July, at 4.00 p.m. at the Dance Cork Firkin Crane in Shandon.
A documentary, “Secrets From Putumayo”, detailing the investigations by Roger Casement into the human rights abuses in the rubber extraction industry in Peru, will be shown on Saturday morning at the Maldron Hotel at 11am.
Here is The Spirit of Mother Jones Festival 2023 Programme to download:
All events are free and open to all, thanks to the kind sponsorship of sections of the Irish Trade Union Movement and Cork City Council and the local community of Shandon, as well as donations. However, as some events fill up quickly, please be on time as we cannot reserve seats.
However, we will list confirmed events on this site from late May onwards. We urge potential visitors to visit our site regularly as some speakers can be added to the programme as we approach the festival itself. Furthermore, the timing of some events may change from this programme.
Thank you to everyone who attended the 2023 Festival.
The Cork Mother Jones Committee wishes to thank our speakers, musicians, singers, participants, film makers, sponsors, and volunteers who by working together create a unique festival to honour Cork’s Rebel Daughter.
We do not charge to attend this festival in order to allow accessibility to all and therefore we really appreciate the kindness and practical support of so many participants who do so much to create the magical atmosphere of this festival which has to be experienced either in the talks, the walks, the singing and the music. Anything can and does happen! The 2023 Spirit of Mother Jones Festival was one such warm and celebratory three days in a remarkable city community where Mary Harris once lived.
We thank all in the historic and living Shandon Community for its cooperation.
We thank everyone at the Shandon Maldon Hotel, the Dance Cork Firkin Crane, the Shandon Area Renewal Association (SARA), Frameworks Films, Cork Community Tv, Lee Press Ltd, the Cork City and County Archives, Lindsay Hand, Rosemary Feurer (Chicago), The Consulate General of Ireland in Chicago, the Consul Kevin Byrne, James and Sharon Goltz (Mt Olive), Saul Schniderman (Washington), Kaiulani Lee, the Cork Ukrainian Choir, Cobh Animation Team, Cork Art Link and many other groups and individuals.
Our sponsors and supporters for 2023 include Cork City Council Heritage Department, the Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland, the ASTI Cork South Paddy Mulcahy Branch, SIPTU at Liberty Hall, Teachers Union of Ireland, Cork (TUI), Northern Ireland Public Servants Alliance (NIPSA), Cathedral Credit Union, Cllr Ted Tynan, Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT), Connect Trade Union, the Irish National Teachers Organisation, Mandate Trade Union, and Unite the Union Northern Ireland.
Members of the 2023 Cork Mother Jones Committee include Ann Rea, Ann Piggott, Richard T Cooke, William Hammond, Geraldine McCarthy, Dominic O’Callaghan, Shannon Smyth, John Barimo, Angela Flynn, James Nolan and Gerard O’ Mahony.
https://www.irishamerica.com/2023/07/mick-lynch-receives-major-cork-honour/
https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-41192935.html
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/munster/arid-41192866.html
https://www.corkbeo.ie/news/local-news/trade-union-leader-mick-lynch-27407511
https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-41191282.html
https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-41176006.html
https://www.irishpost.com/news/mick-lynch-receives-major-cork-honour-257872