The Green Party is a green political party that operates in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It holds a pro-European stance. It was founded as the Ecology Party of Ireland in 1981 by Dublin teacher Christopher Fettes. The party became the Green Alliance in 1983 and adopted its current English language name in 1987 while the Irish name was kept unchanged. The party leader is Roderic O'Gorman, the deputy leader is Senator Róisín Garvey and the cathaoirleach (chairperson) is Pauline O'Reilly. Green Party candidates have been elected to most levels of representation: local government, Dáil Éireann, the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the European Parliament.
Magdalene asylums, also known as Magdalene laundries, were initially Protestant but later mostly Roman Catholic institutions that operated from the 18th to the late 20th centuries, ostensibly to house "fallen women". The term referred to female sexual promiscuity or sex workers, young women who became pregnant outside of marriage, or young girls and teenagers who did not have familial support. They were required to work without pay apart from meagre food provisions, while the institutions operated large commercial laundries, serving customers outside their bases.
Ivana Catherine Bacik is an Irish politician who has been the Leader of the Labour Party since 24 March 2022 and a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Bay South constituency since winning a by-election on 9 July 2021. Bacik previously served as Leader of the Labour Party in the Seanad from 2011 to 2021, and a Senator for the Dublin University constituency from 2007 to 2021. She previously served as Deputy leader of the Seanad from 2011 to 2016. Bacik came to prominence due to her abortion rights campaigning from the 1980s onwards.
William Binchy is an Irish lawyer. He was the Regius Professor of Laws at Trinity College Dublin from 1992 to 2012.
The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (CICA) was one of a range of measures introduced by the Irish Government to investigate the extent and effects of abuse on children from 1936 onwards. Commencing its work in 1999, it was commonly known in Ireland as the Laffoy Commission after its chair, Justice Mary Laffoy. Laffoy resigned as chair in 2003 and was succeeded by Justice Sean Ryan, with the commission becoming known as the Ryan Commission. It published its final public report, commonly referred to as the Ryan report, in 2009.
Catherine Connolly is an Irish independent politician who has been serving as the Leas-Cheann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann since July 2020. She has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Galway West constituency since 2016. She previously served as Chair of the Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands from 2016 to 2020 and Mayor of Galway from 2004 to 2005.
Regina Doherty is an Irish Fine Gael politician who is a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Dublin constituency since the 2024 European Parliament election. She was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Meath East constituency from 2011 to 2020. She was the Leader of Fine Gael in the Seanad from 2020 to 2024, serving as leader of the Seanad from 2020 to 2022 and Deputy leader of the Seanad from 2022 to 2024. She served as Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection from 2017 to 2020 and Government Chief Whip from 2016 to 2017.
The Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home, which operated between 1925 and 1961 in the town of Tuam, County Galway, Ireland, was a maternity home for unmarried mothers and their children. The home was run by the Bon Secours Sisters, a religious order of Catholic nuns, that also operated the Grove Hospital in the town. Unmarried pregnant women were sent to the home to give birth and interned for a year doing unpaid work.
Catherine Corless is an Irish historian, known for her work in compiling the information concerning the deaths of children at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Galway. After gaining an interest in local history from attending an evening course, Corless decided to write an article about the mother and baby home inspired by her own childhood memories of the institution. She spent her spare time searching records in libraries, churches and council offices, and uncovered that 796 children died in the home. She found death certificates but identified that there were no burial records. The bodies were eventually found to have been disposed of in a disused septic tank on the property. She has received a number of awards in recognition of her work, including a People of the Year Award in 2018. Following the 2020 government report on deaths and abuses at Mother and Baby homes, the Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin called Corless a “tireless crusader of dignity and truth”.
The Magdalene Laundries in Ireland, also known as Magdalene asylums, were institutions usually run by Roman Catholic orders, which operated from the 18th to the late 20th centuries. They were run ostensibly to house "fallen women", an estimated 30,000 of whom were confined in these institutions in Ireland.
Rory Hearne is an Irish Social Democrats politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin North-West constituency since the 2024 general election. He was previously an academic known for his work on the Irish housing crisis.
The Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation was a judicial commission of investigation, established in 2015 by the Irish government to investigate deaths and misconduct during the 20th century in mother and baby homes—institutions, most run by Catholic religious nuns, where unwed women were sent to deliver their babies. It was set up following statements that the bodies of up to 800 babies and children may have been interred in an unmarked mass grave in the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home, located in Tuam, County Galway. Its remit additionally covered investigation into the records of and the practices at an additional thirteen Mother and Baby Homes. The members of the three-person Commission were Judge Yvonne Murphy (chairperson), Dr William Duncan and Professor Mary E. Daly.
Pope Francis visited Ireland on 25 and 26 August 2018, as part of the World Meeting of Families 2018. It was the first visit by a reigning pontiff to the country since 1979.
Laura Angela Collins is a London-based Irish Traveller activist and author.
Holly Cairns, also known as Holly McKeever Cairns, is an Irish politician who has been leader of the Social Democrats party since March 2023. She has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for Cork South-West since the 2020 general election. She was a member of Cork County Council for the Bantry local electoral area from 2019 to 2020.
William Gerard Anthony Holohan is an Irish public health physician who served as Chief Medical Officer of Ireland from May 2008 to 1 July 2022. Fergal Bowers described him as being "as familiar as Dr Anthony Fauci in the US and arguably as influential".
Mary Teresa Collins is an Irish Traveller survivor of Irish institutions such as the Magdalene laundries, industrial schools and county homes. Collins co-founded the campaign organisation, Justice 4 All Women & Children.
St Patrick's Mother and Baby Home was an institution for unwed mothers and babies which operated for 81 years on the Navan Road in Dublin, Ireland.
Ciarán Ahern is an Irish Labour Party politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South-West constituency since the 2024 general election.
Sinéad Gibney is an Irish Social Democrats politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Rathdown constituency since the 2024 general election.
