It might not be the job description you’d like to see recorded for posterity, but Kerry-born Elizabeth Sugrue will always be known as Ireland’s female ‘hangwoman’, or Lady Betty for short.

OH, the irony. George Salmon, mathematician, arch conservative and one-time provost of Trinity College Dublin, said that women would enter Ireland’s oldest university over his dead body. And that is how it turned out.

Ethel Lilian Boole, author of the international bestseller 'The Gadfly', was born in Cork, even if the city doesn’t make enough of that glorious connection

She had a private audience with Pope John XXIII, met the “father of black nationalism” and, as a young businesswoman and single mother, organised Princess Grace’s visit to Ireland, yet few of those things come to mind when Eileen O’Mara Walsh’s name ...

When the lord mayor of Cork, Donal Ó Ceallacháin, called to the Mansion House in Dublin in 1921, Mary O’Sullivan turned him away. She didn’t like the look of him.

Is there any word in Irish history which carries a more visceral charge than ‘eviction’?There are few words that carry a more visceral charge in Irish history than ‘eviction’, other than perhaps, ‘famine’ and ‘emigration’.

This St Patrick's Day, let's remember Charlotte Milligan Fox who travelled around Ireland in the early 1900s to record and publish ancient Irish tunes

Early female activists endured jail and hunger strikes, but today they face another kind of imprisonment — suspended in the stocks of a no-holds-barred social media

This exceptional woman and trailblazing civil servant deserves to be back in circulation

Who knew the past had so much breaking news?The question, asked in a witty tweet from Professor Niamh Stack of Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, hits the nail on the head.

As anti-refugee sentiment is being stoked around the country, is there a better time to remind ourselves of the Irish people who risked their lives to save others?

What of all the women who died before that date, such as Margaret Mary McCarthy? I would like to see a database where her story is recorded. It’s the very least we can do for her

Influential founder of the Church of Kildare will take centre stage on the first public holiday in her honour

I’M compiling a new list of female ‘icons’.

He was an ambulance driver and International Brigades volunteer from Co Tipperary.

Sarah Purser, artist and founder of An Túr Gloine (the Tower of Glass), the stained-glass cooperative which opened its doors 120 years ago on New Year’s Day, still has the power to inspire — and distract.

Capturing a fascinating slice of social history before the trail goes cold

THE story of how Constance O’Mara, of the Limerick bacon-factory family, came to marry an uncle of the real singing von Trapps — made famous by The Sound of Music — is worthy of a film in itself.

Clodagh Finn talks to a prominent academic who overcame secrecy, bureaucracy, falsified documents and ‘bare-faced’ lies to discover his ‘lost’ aunts and uncles, in Ireland and abroad and, in some cases, introduce them to each other for the first time

Here we are again with a return to the catwalk waif and the fallout in terms of body image that is certain to follow

Vicky Phelan used her voice not just to challenge, but to rock the system, and she left behind a considerable legacy

For too long, the voices of patients with chronic, debilitating conditions have not been heard — now is a time for change

Just thinking about the indomitable spirit of Mary Harper is a balm in these difficult times — and it's a reminder that age is only a number and the human spirit can be unquenchable

Influencer Trisha Lewis's honesty about her gambling addiction will help many people in desperate need of help

Politicians who use the word in a throwaway fashion, dishonour the thousands of women killed throughout history

The State has yet to acknowledge the scale and the lasting impact of incarcerating unmarried pregnant women and effectively effacing the traces that linked them to their children, writes Clodagh Finn.

Climate collapse is happening at a faster rate than we want to admit and air travel plays a role 

It’s late in the day, but the slow rehabilitation of Lucia Joyce, the brilliant dancer, is well underway, writes Clodagh Finn 

Survey reveals worrying statistics around body image, self-esteem, and mental health — and misogyny among their male peers

Two events today underline the long and slow progress women have been making to achieve bodily autonomy

What have the unions ever done for us? Maternity and paternity leave, sick pay, holiday pay, pensions, shorter hours, better conditions...

Open-sea swimming is an expression of solidarity and empowerment, writes Clodagh Finn

Dr Sophie Bryant campaigned for Irish university education and a firm place for women in it

Events in West Cork celebrating Ellen Hutchins, just one small part of the national event, illustrate the wealth of discovery and fun that's out there for all of us during Heritage Week

Mattel has launched a doll celebrating the life of renowned primatologist Dr Jane Goodall — it's a positive step, so let's not put Barbie back in her box

Sligo County Council seeks Unesco status for part of its priceless ancient landscape — but has now voted to build near it 

Janie McCarthy was a teacher from Killarney who saved countless Allied soldiers during WW2. A new campaign in her homeplace of Killarney aims to see her remembered and celebrated

A timeless classic unites fans of all ages: maybe we could even listen to the lyrics and adopt its central idea

Brian Graham, 80, thinks he is probably one of the few remaining people who can say that he was treated by Dr Kathleen Lynn, the pioneering doctor who was honoured with her partner (in life and work) Madeleine ffrench-Mullen by Dublin City Council ...

The response to good news about an appetite-suppressing drug is muted only because people have been too ashamed to admit they have rather common conditions such as food obsession

It's time for us all — women in particular — to start looking with fresh eyes towards our 50s, 60s, and beyond

It's nearly half-past January and the grand stretch is kicking in. So put on that hat, get to an outdoor café, wrap your hands around a hot coffee, and start becoming a true outsider

She is not very well known here, in the country of her birth, but Rachel Hamilton, the towering navvy, labourer and peacekeeper, is celebrated with affection in her adopted Glasgow

Columnist Clodagh Finn says think before you click and buy - Irish businesses trying to make it through this pandemic need your custom