Clodagh Finn: Remarkable story of Cork's Cummins sisters

There is so much more to say about the Cummins sisters from Cork city

Left to right: Dr Mary Hearn, Dr Jane Mullin, Geraldine Cummins, Phyllis Hayes and Iris Cummins. File picture

Fri, 17 Jul, 2026 - 15:20

Clodagh Finn is a journalist, writer and collector of stories. Her recent book, The Irish in the Resistance, co-authored with John Morgan, shines a light on the forgotten contributions of the Irish who resisted Hitler during WW2.

When Anne Twomey of Shandon Area History Group was trying to think of women who might feature in a documentary about the unsung heroines of Cork City in the 1920s, the name Mary Hearn was running around in her head.

It rang a bell, but there was no file, so to speak, until she asked her mother Joan (O’Callaghan) Twomey about her. Then the floodgates opened. Not only did her mother have vivid memories of an exceptional family doctor who treated everyone regardless of their ability to pay, but all of her aunts remembered a progressive, kind, and deeply empathic woman who touched them deeply.