Riverside walk renamed to honour Cumann na mBan’s role in 1916

A RIVERSIDE walk in Cork was renamed Slí Cumann na mBan yesterday to mark the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising.

There are no surviving members of Cumann na mBan in Cork, but City Hall traced relatives who attended yesterday’s ceremony on the Mardyke.

Bernadette Wallace’s aunts, the Wallace sisters, were key members of Cumann na mBan in Cork.

They ran a little shop on Augustine’s Street which doubled as brigade headquarters. Bernadette attended the ceremony.

Cumann na mBan, or the League of Women, was formed in 1914 as an auxiliary corps to complement the Irish Volunteer Force (IVF). Its recruits were from diverse backgrounds, mainly white-collar workers and professional women, but with a significant proportion also from the working class.

They worked at first aid posts tending the wounded, prepared and delivered meals, gathered intelligence on scouting expeditions, carried dispatches and transferred arms from dumps across the city to insurgent strongholds.

During the Rising, they helped to organise the evacuation of the Four Courts buildings as well as destroying incriminating papers.

Gael Taca’s Padraig Ó Cuanachain described the Cumann as the backbone of the War of Independence, whose members played a vital role in intelligence gathering.

Cork’s Lord Mayor Deirdre Clune unveiled a plaque near the pedestrian bridge at the Mardyke yesterday, renaming the recently-opened Banks of the Lee riverside walkway Slí Cumann na mBan.

She paid tribute to the role played by Cumann na mBan.

“It is fitting that we take this opportunity to commemorate the central contribution made by Cumann na mBan not just in the events of 1916 and the subsequent move towards independence, but in the largely unreported contribution made by its members towards universal suffrage for women,” Mayor Clune said.

She also acknowledged the debt of gratitude owed by the present generation to Cumann na mBan.

The scenic riverside section from The Mardyke to the North Mall is a city council initiative and was recently completed at a cost of €2 million.

There are plans to extend it all the way to the Lee Fields.