Women ‘to get place in history’

A public park and a national roadway in Kerry are to be named after the paramilitary organisation Cumann na mBan in the county’s first major recognition of the role of women in the fight for independence.

The decision by Kerry County Council to recognise the women who were active during the War of Independence was described as “the start of equality of commemoration” in a county dominated by monuments to the role played by men during that era.

The new council elected in May had signalled an end to traditional ‘Civil War’ politics at its first meeting in June with a historic coming together by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to elect a Fianna Fáil chairman, John Brassil.