Clodagh Finn: ‘Lelia and Margaretta were moving mountains long before hashtags’

“It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us."

Lelia Doolan looks ahead to the long road before her as she begins her walk from Shannon Airport to Dublin, a journey aimed at raising awareness around peace and Ireland’s neutrality. Picture: Chani Anderson

“She’s as bold as brass.” Lelia Doolan, the 91-year-old peace activist en route from Clare to the Dáil to protest at the US military’s use of Shannon Airport, is talking about the other reason she’s setting out across the country on foot — to honour her dear friend and fellow agitator Margaretta D’Arcy.

The two women had been hatching a plan to take some kind of action when Margaretta “went off and died” last November, at the age of 91.