St Brigid's Day should inspire real change to empower Irish women

Women are really good at celebrating and supporting each other - but it's no substitute for structural change and political will, writes Ingrid Seim

Street artist Mister Copy continues work on a mural depicting St Brigid which was commissioned to coincide with the return of the sacred relics of St Brigid to Co Kildare after nearly a millennium.  Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

The establishment of St Brigid’s Day as a public holiday in 2023 seemed like a fitting recognition of the change in Ireland’s attitude to women and the contributions they had made throughout its history. In a country that for so long had written half of its population out of it, women finally seemed in a position to reclaim at least some of their place in the national and cultural canon.

It is probably not insignificant that the campaign to officially recognise the St Brigid’s Day holiday came off the back of Repeal and a referendum that, to a large extent, was won by women making their stories visible and their lived experiences matter.