Clodagh Finn: Mother of all the Behans spoke of her ‘Me Too’ moment

Kathleen Behan had to survive two world wars, the death of two husbands, the death of two sons, seven years in an orphanage, and a sexual assault by a potential employer. Picture: Getty Images

Kathleen Behan might be best known as “mother of all the Behans”, but she wore so many hats.

She was a folk singer, a Cumann na mBan member, a republican, a ‘Me Too’ advocate (though she wouldn’t have called it that), and such a fervent supporter of workers’ rights that she turned the radio to full volume whenever the Russian National Anthem came on. Then she’d open the windows wide just “to shake up the neighbours” in Crumlin, Dublin, who had labelled her “a bloody communist”.