Person: Clodagh Finn

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Person: Clodagh Finn

A COMPREHENSIVE SERIES OF ARTICLES ON THIS TOPIC

<p> Elizabeth Taylor with her husband Richard Burton. Taylor was caught short and ventured into a bar to use the facilities while in Dublin. She was allowed to use the gents toilet. Picture:Getty Images</p>

columnists

Clodagh Finn: You can close a pub, but you can’t close what it gave a place

From Blackrock to Youghal, Irish pub names hold forgotten stories of love, loss, community — and why their passing still matters

Clodagh Finn: Hark! An overlooked Aladdin’s Cave of festive entertainment

Clodagh Finn: Remembering the artist who illustrated Joyce’s Finnegans Wake

Clodagh Finn: Women on Walls — the art of challenging the status quo

Clodagh Finn: Remembering the first female envoy who paved the way in foreign affairs

Clodagh Finn: Amelia Curran, the Irish painter who immortalised poet Shelley

Clodagh Finn: Imagine a Church in which Sr Stan had been a bishop

Clodagh Finn: Imagine a Church in which Sr Stan had been a bishop

It is time that the work of women who improved so many people’s lives is at least acknowledged in the hierarchy of the Church they served

Sun, 09 Nov, 2025

Clodagh Finn: In the footsteps of Irish secret agent Maureen O’Sullivan

Clodagh Finn: In the footsteps of Irish secret agent Maureen O’Sullivan

Maureen Patricia O’Sullivan was one of the most effective secret agents in France during World War II

Sun, 26 Oct, 2025

Clodagh Finn: The silver tea set that tells story of Irish marriage bar

Clodagh Finn: The silver tea set that tells story of Irish marriage bar

Mary Staunton's experience was shared by so many other women who felt shut out of public life during the five decades the marriage bar was in force

Sat, 18 Oct, 2025

Clodagh Finn: An ode to Hyacinth Bucket and the radiant art of growing old

Clodagh Finn: An ode to Hyacinth Bucket and the radiant art of growing old

In the real world, older people lead full and enriching lives but that hasn’t quite translated into fiction yet

Sat, 11 Oct, 2025

Clodagh Finn: The politics of handbags, with all its glorious baggage

Clodagh Finn: The politics of handbags, with all its glorious baggage

The handbag of Maria Steen, who didn't manage to get enough nominations to run for the presidency, reminds Clodagh Finn of the controversial term 'handbagging' that had been used to insult other women in politics

Sat, 04 Oct, 2025

Clodagh Finn: Great Irish wives, the club with so many overlooked members

Clodagh Finn: Great Irish wives, the club with so many overlooked members

O’Brien Press has finally published a non-fiction version of he lives of 10 women overshadowed by their famous husbands

Sun, 21 Sep, 2025

Clodagh Finn: Funerals are much more about life than death

Clodagh Finn: Funerals are much more about life than death

Strange as it may sound, there is something very uplifting about coming together to celebrate a life well lived

Sat, 13 Sep, 2025

Clodagh Finn: If only we had hospital builder Madam Steevens in today's world

Clodagh Finn: If only we had hospital builder Madam Steevens in today's world

The indefatigable Grizelda Steevens managed to get Ireland’s first public hospital up and running in 1733

Sat, 06 Sep, 2025

Clodagh Finn: Let’s back campaign for public tribute to Mary Jane Irwin

Clodagh Finn: Let’s back campaign for public tribute to Mary Jane Irwin

If a visiting monkey has a place in the streetscape, Mary Jane Irwin, as she was when she lived in Clonakilty, certainly deserves ones too

Sat, 30 Aug, 2025

Brendan Gleeson launches Bewley's Big Coffee Morning

Clodagh Finn: Give the arts a sporting chance with a daily slot on Six One News

Now’s your chance to speak up for the culture-makers before a September 5 deadline

Sat, 23 Aug, 2025

Clodagh Finn: The woman who took the last known photo of Michael Collins

Clodagh Finn: The woman who took the last known photo of Michael Collins

Agnes Hurley also reportedly was in possession of Michael Collins's blood-stained shirt collar from the ambush

Sat, 16 Aug, 2025

Clodagh Finn: It’s not the Hunger Games, it’s not Miss America — it’s our weird, beloved Rose of Tralee

Clodagh Finn: It’s not the Hunger Games, it’s not Miss America — it’s our weird, beloved Rose of Tralee

Tralee native Clodagh Finn reflects on the contradictions, criticisms and quiet joys of Ireland’s most divisive cultural celebration

Sun, 03 Aug, 2025

Maeve Kyle

Clodagh Finn: They called Maeve Kyle a disgrace to motherhood — then she became an Irish Olympic icon

Maeve Kyle broke rules, records, and expectations — blazing a trail from Kilkenny to Tokyo across five decades of Irish sport

Sat, 26 Jul, 2025

Clodagh Finn: The ‘We Do Not Care’ club is striking a powerful chord with menopausal women

Clodagh Finn: The ‘We Do Not Care’ club is striking a powerful chord with menopausal women

One straight-talking woman has given a voice to many who have felt silenced in a world that minimised the impact of menopause

Sat, 19 Jul, 2025

Clodagh Finn: The Irish tennis ace you've probably never heard of

Clodagh Finn: The Irish tennis ace you've probably never heard of

As one of the world’s most famous tournaments draws to a close today, meet this one-time finalist and greatly overlooked tennis great

Sun, 13 Jul, 2025

Clodagh Finn: Carmel Snow, the Irish Anna Wintour who reshaped US fashion

Clodagh Finn: Carmel Snow, the Irish Anna Wintour who reshaped US fashion

Her vision was an immediate success. She took over Harper’s Bazaar in 1935, quickly tripling the magzine's circulation

Sat, 05 Jul, 2025

Clodagh Finn: Lessons to save us from reinventing the wheel in the fight for equality

Clodagh Finn: Lessons to save us from reinventing the wheel in the fight for equality

A book of essays on what happened after the famous contraceptive train from Dublin to Belfast in 1971 shows the need to keep an eye on the history books to see the progress that has been made

Sat, 28 Jun, 2025

Clodagh Finn: A tale of two extraordinary ‘ordinary’ grandmothers

Clodagh Finn: A tale of two extraordinary ‘ordinary’ grandmothers

Evictions over a two-week period in June 1887 generated international headlines, and widespread sympathy for tenants

Sat, 14 Jun, 2025

Clodagh Finn: Restoring some honour to Honour Bright, 100 years on

Clodagh Finn: Restoring some honour to Honour Bright, 100 years on

Lizzie O’Neill’s murder shocked the State, and her reputation was left in shreds

Sat, 07 Jun, 2025

Clodagh Finn: An invite to rediscover the female writers of Kerry

Clodagh Finn: An invite to rediscover the female writers of Kerry

Strap in for a rapid-fire tour of an exhibition that casts off the wilful forgetfulness of centuries

Sat, 31 May, 2025

Clodagh Finn: An unflinching study of a warts-and-all ‘hero’

Clodagh Finn: An unflinching study of a warts-and-all ‘hero’

Lin Rose Clark teases out the political and historical and writes the women back into the story

Sat, 24 May, 2025

Clodagh Finn: The ‘modern Cinderella’ who made her mark behind Iron Curtain

Clodagh Finn: The ‘modern Cinderella’ who made her mark behind Iron Curtain

Whatever happened to this young woman who stepped into a fairytale story all those decades ago?

Sat, 17 May, 2025

Clodagh Finn: How a true pioneer emerged from the shadows

Clodagh Finn: How a true pioneer emerged from the shadows

Her life and work was the very embodiment of feminism yet she vehemently denied being a feminist

Sat, 10 May, 2025

Clodagh Finn: How Oonah Keogh made history on the Dublin Stock Exchange in 1925

Clodagh Finn: How Oonah Keogh made history on the Dublin Stock Exchange in 1925

A century after she broke into an all-male world, Oonah Keogh’s quiet revolution on the trading floor is remembered

Sat, 03 May, 2025

Clodagh Finn: Lessons in the extraordinary power of forgiveness

Clodagh Finn: Lessons in the extraordinary power of forgiveness

Una O’Higgins O’Malley was a woman nearing 60, with a long record of peace activism, when she discovered the names of the men responsible for killing her father

Sat, 19 Apr, 2025

Clodagh Finn: The ‘twin-souls’ who brought modern art to Ireland

Clodagh Finn: The ‘twin-souls’ who brought modern art to Ireland

As the National Gallery of Ireland opens its exhibition, Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone, The Art of Friendship, Clodagh Finn examines how the artists' tenacity overcame the art world's initial merciless criticism so that they became 'champions, teachers, collectors, donors, organisers and supporters of other artists' in the modern art scene in Ireland

Sat, 12 Apr, 2025

Maud MacBride

Clodagh Finn: Mother’s Day Gaza vigil highlights Irish discomfort with female protest and dissent

The treatment of Gaza protesters outside the Dáil shows how female dissent is still met with disproportionate force

Sat, 05 Apr, 2025

Clodagh Finn: Walking women back into the fabric of our cities

Clodagh Finn: Walking women back into the fabric of our cities

Feminist walks in Cork are reclaiming the hidden stories of Irish women, challenging inequality, and reshaping how we see history

Sat, 15 Mar, 2025

Clodagh Finn: Boeing crash victims' families still fighting for truth and justice

S Clodagh Finn: Boeing crash victims' families still fighting for truth and justice

As Micheál Martin meets Donald Trump, families of Boeing crash victims demand justice. Will the Taoiseach push for accountability?

Sat, 08 Mar, 2025

Clodagh Finn: Meet Josie MacAvin — Ireland’s unsung Oscar-winning set designer

Clodagh Finn: Meet Josie MacAvin — Ireland’s unsung Oscar-winning set designer

Josie MacAvin, Ireland’s only Oscar and Emmy-winning set designer, left a legacy now proudly displayed at the Irish Film Institute

Sat, 01 Mar, 2025

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Clodagh Finn: Why Elon Musk bringing his child to work is deeply disquieting

Elon Musk’s viral White House moment reveals deep inequalities in work-life balance and parental privilege

Sat, 22 Feb, 2025

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Clodagh Finn: A hymn to aunts, unheralded superpowers

These women did incredible things. They worked, they raised families, they challenged the status quo or, better still, they showed us how to make the most of living within it

Sat, 15 Feb, 2025

Clodagh Finn: An African wedding, three funerals, and a suitcase of lost letters

Clodagh Finn: An African wedding, three funerals, and a suitcase of lost letters

When Irish missionary Olive Archer finally arrived at her destination after a four-week canoe journey down the River Luapula in central Africa, her fiancé jumped from his bed and ran to meet her in his pyjamas.

Sat, 08 Feb, 2025

Clodagh Finn: Olive’s African odyssey — a canoe, crocodiles, and a love story

Clodagh Finn: Olive’s African odyssey — a canoe, crocodiles, and a love story

In 1926, Irish missionary Olive Archer, age 28, boarded a canoe and set off on the crocodile-infested waters of the Luapula river in central Africa to join her husband-to-be Patrick Kerr Dixon, an Irish doctor and missionary in what is now the ...

Sat, 01 Feb, 2025

An international search for the remains of Irish war hero Patrick Sarsfield

An international search for the remains of Irish war hero Patrick Sarsfield

There are reasons to be optimistic that the remains of Irish war hero Patrick Sarsfield will be identified, writes Clodagh Finn

Fri, 31 Jan, 2025

Clodagh Finn: The Siberian diary of 13-year-old Anna Whitney

Clodagh Finn: The Siberian diary of 13-year-old Anna Whitney

The 10-page account of her travels in May 1908 is the work of a sensitive, eloquent observer, wise beyond her years

Sat, 25 Jan, 2025

Clodagh Finn: Comic genius of Maureen Potter should be celebrated

Clodagh Finn: Comic genius of Maureen Potter should be celebrated

A Potter centenary might prompt some general discussion on the lack of visibility of Irish women in the streets of our cities, towns, and villages

Sat, 18 Jan, 2025

Clodagh Finn: The Irish shop worker who became an Italian princess

Clodagh Finn: The Irish shop worker who became an Italian princess

The next time you are in Rome, recall Rosemary Barrett-Murphy who led a rich and varied life

Sat, 11 Jan, 2025

Clodagh Finn: Meet Pablo, ‘the flying African’ acrobat from Cork

Clodagh Finn: Meet Pablo, ‘the flying African’ acrobat from Cork

ROLL up! Roll up! Meet Pablo Paddington, the 19th-century circus acrobat whose many monikers reveal the most intriguing tale.

Sun, 05 Jan, 2025

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Clodagh Finn: Gisèle Pelicot gave us a mission for 2025 — ‘Shame must change sides’

While waiving her anonymity, Gisèle did much more than expose the pervasiveness of rape culture: She gave us a rousing catchphrase and sharpened our collective determination to use it

Sat, 28 Dec, 2024

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Clodagh Finn: Marie O’Sullivan was 'a real, live celebrity before they were ten a penny’

Trailblazing presenter carved out a path where there was none before

Sat, 21 Dec, 2024

Clodagh Finn: Remembering the women who lived in holes in 19th-century Kildare

Clodagh Finn: Remembering the women who lived in holes in 19th-century Kildare

While they were cast out of society, they succeeded in creating their own subculture, one which offered them 'emotional and physical support, a certain degree of protection and indeed human validation'

Sat, 14 Dec, 2024

Clodagh Finn: Recovering the voices of rebel women from muffled silence

Clodagh Finn: Recovering the voices of rebel women from muffled silence

On Wednesday, spare a thought for Kathleen O'Connell from Ballydehob on the 79th anniversary of her death, one of the ordinary, extraordinary women rebels whose legacy has been forgotten, until now

Sat, 07 Dec, 2024

Clodagh Finn: An advent calendar of women to celebrate

Clodagh Finn: An advent calendar of women to celebrate

Here's a brief introduction to 24 women from the ancient to recent past who will inspire you

Sat, 30 Nov, 2024