Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As a republican and a parliamentarian, I am particularly proud of Ireland's unmanageable revolutionaries. These brave women from across the political and class divide fought fearlessly and furiously against a harsh and hateful patriarchal power. They were pilloried, beaten and, worst of all for many, dismissed. Sunday marked the 150th anniversary of the birth of Countess Markievicz. She embodied the boldness of republican and socialist demands for a free and equal Ireland. Constance threw off the "old idea that a woman can only serve her nation through her home" and challenged women across classes and generations to dedicate themselves to the cause of freedom and equality with a rallying cry that "Now is the time, and on you the responsibility rests". It is important to acknowledge the depth of opposition to women's suffrage to fully appreciate the demand the countess made of Irish women at that time. In 1912, the deputy leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party told a deputation of Irish suffragettes:

Women's suffrage will, I believe, be the ruin of our Western civilisation. It will destroy the home, challenging the headship of man, laid down by God.

Challenge the "headship of man" they most definitely did. One hundred years ago today, the Representation of the People Act was passed and women over the age of 30 who met a property qualification were granted the vote.

It was not universal suffrage but the dam was irretrievably broken. Women’s demands for votes were set against and, for many republicans, intrinsically linked with the cause of Irish freedom and fight for workers’ rights.

Countess Markievicz told the Dáil in 1922 that she stood for the "Workers Republic for which Connolly died" and a "state run by the Irish people for the people". Internationalism was also a common cause among many republican and nationalist women activists. Louie Bennett, co-founder of the Irish Women’s Suffrage Federation, emphasised the internationalism of Irish feminism when she said: "...we suffragists are working for all women... We recognise the bond of sisterhood uniting women of every nationality without losing anything of the strong, free, Celtic spirit and passionate instinct for independence characteristic of that spirit." While Bennett and Markievicz would not have agreed on the method by which independence would be achieved, they both valued the support of their male comrades. Bennett, when secretary of the Irish Women Workers' Union - a trade union my grandmother on my father's side was a shop steward in and an association we are very proud of - described James Connolly as "...one of the best suffrage speakers I have ever heard and a thorough feminist in every respect".

The common thread from their time to ours is the demand for rights - very basic rights. In 1918, women and men were fighting for language rights, democratic rights, equality and independence. We can and should make the direct link from the demands of Markievicz and Bennett to today’s campaigns for Irish language rights and marriage equality in the North. Members of this House cannot celebrate the achievements of these two women and then ignore the demands for an Irish language Act and same-sex civil marriage from their fellow country women and men. If Markievicz and Bennett could extend their solidarity across the class, gender and nation divide, surely the best way that we in this institution can honour them is to extend our solidarity to those on our shared island who have yet to secure the rights we enjoy today.

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