Irish Female Leaders

A seasoned lawyer and a Harvard and Trinity College alumna, politician Mary Robinson has also taught law at Trinity. The Labour Party member later rose to be Ireland’s first female president. She was also a founding member of the global group of peacekeepers and leaders The Elders.

Irish revolutionary political leader and suffragist Constance Markievicz scripted history by becoming the first woman to be elected as a cabinet minister in Europe and also the first female to be elected to the British Parliament. Sentenced to death for her role in the Easter Rising, she was later granted amnesty.

Part of Irish folklore, Grace O'Malley was known as The Pirate Queen. Born into a seafaring family and was known for her unrelenting attitude toward the English. Known for her exploits in the Nine Years' War, she refused to bow down to Queen Elizabeth, as she herself was a queen.

Far-right British activist Anne Marie Waters initially joined the UK Independence Party, but after losing its leadership election to Henry Bolton, she formed For Britain, her own anti-Islam party. Her election manifesto promises to ban the burqa and the Sharia Law. The former Labour supporter had also launched the anti-Islam group Pegida UK.

Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald scripted history when she became the first female leader of the opposition in Ireland. While she initially studied English literature, her later research interests included European affairs. She is also a fitness enthusiast and has taken to boxing to keep fit.

Apart from being a qualified barrister, Mary McAleese also taught criminal law at the Trinity College and also worked as a journalist. She later joined Fianna Fáil and soon became Ireland’s second female president. She has also written several books, including an autobiography. She is known as a prominent LGBT activist.

Maud Gonne not just co-founded the Sinn Féin party but also participated in the theater movement of W.B Yeats, who made her his muse and proposed to her many times, only to be rejected. An Irish nationalist, she also formed the Daughters of Ireland and acted in Yeats’s first play Cathleen ni Houlihan.

Apart from being a barrister, Lucinda Creighton has been an Irish minister of state for European Affairs. A prominent leader of Renua and Fine Gael, she made significant contributions to Ireland’s EU/IMF bailout and later served as the CEO of Vulcan Consulting, a company she co-established with her husband.

Apart from being a criminal law professor at Trinity College Dublin, Ivana Bacik is also a barrister who specializes in criminology, feminist law, and human rights. A politician for the Irish Labour Party and a senator for Dublin University, she is also the granddaughter of famous glass manufacturer Charles Bacik.

Liadh Ni Riada is an Irish politician affiliated with the Sinn Féin party. She was previously a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the South constituency. Prior to joining politics, she was a TV producer and director. She is passionate about heritage and culture and is a vocal advocate for Irish language rights. 

A clergyman’s daughter, Kathleen Lynn went against her family to participate in the Easter Rising. She was also one of the first women doctors from University College Dublin and later became the chief medical officer of the Irish Citizen Army. She devoted her life to feminism and social upliftment of the poor.