‘Fierce’ campaigner and former lady mayoress of Cork dies after long battle with illness

‘Fierce’ campaigner and former lady mayoress of Cork dies after long battle with illness

The late Ursula Shannon. Picture: Facebook

A former lady mayoress of Cork and “fierce campaigner” has died this Christmas morning, after a long battle with illness.

Ursula Shannon (nee O'Keeffe), died at the age of 60 this morning, surrounded by her loving family.

She leaves behind her husband, FF Cllr Terry Shannon, and their children.

Adopted as a child in the UK, Ms Shannon was a fierce campaigner for adoption rights.

She was born on February 18, 1964 in Paddington General Hospital, to an Irish mother who had been working in England since 1958. She was christened in Holy Redeemer Church, Chelsea, on March 15, 1964. Her birth father, also Irish, was from Galway.

In  written evidence to the UK parliament in November 2021, she said she was "trafficked to Ireland for adoption".

In 2021, she was among many advocates who petitioned for the British Parliament to pass legislation regarding increasing rights for the adopted children of unmarried women between 1949 and 1976.

In her petition letter, Ms Shannon wrote that adoption in many way starts with loss.

“A mother loses a baby, a baby loses its mother, its identity, its nationality, its citizenship, its family. As I was a baby, it seems I had no rights, no say, and it was strangers making these decisions,” she had written.

Addressing the members of the Parliament, she had noted that both governments “turned a blind eye” to the issue, which was historically known as “the Irish problem”.

She wrote: “I don’t know how my mother was pressured into giving me up as she now has dementia, but I do know the girls were pressured, bullied, belittled, berated by people in power like social workers, nurses, nuns, and not forgetting in my case, the Catholic church, or as I like to refer to them ….. the moral police without the morals. People say its society’s fault but who were the people telling them it was wrong? Those spouting from the pulpit. Illegitimate children were born for many years before adoption came into the realm.” 

Ms Shannon was able to eventually find her mother, but because of her condition, she was never able to have a conversation with her.

Although, she had found some comfort.

“My mother at the start of her condition was found wandering around the streets looking for the baby. It warms my heart that she might have been looking for me,” Ms Shannon had written.