13 Facts About Helena Molony

Helena Mary Molony was a prominent Irish republican, feminist and labour activist.

Helena Molony fought in the 1916 Easter Rising and later became the second woman president of the Irish Trades Union Congress.

In 1903, inspired by a pro-nationalist speech given by Maud Gonne, Helena Molony joined Inghinidhe na hEireann and began a lifelong commitment to the nationalist cause.

Helena Molony was central to the school meals activism of the movement; with Maud Gonne, Marie Perolz and others, she organised the supply of daily school meals to children in impoverished areas, and pressured Dublin Corporation and other bodies to provide proper meals to hungry children in Dublin.

Helena Molony had a career as an actress, and was a member of the Abbey Theatre.

Helena Molony was a strong political influence, credited with bringing many into the movement, including Constance Markievicz and Dr Kathleen Lynn, who wrote: 'We used to have long talks and she converted me to the national movement.

Helena Molony was a very clever and attractive girl with a tremendous power of making friends.

Helena Molony managed the union's shirt factory in Liberty Hall, founded to give employment to the strikers put out of work and blacklisted after the strike.

Helena Molony confided to a friend in the 1930s that she believed they were to be wed, but that Hobson had 'broken her heart' and left her.

Helena Molony was a prominent member of Cumann na mBan, a republican women's paramilitary organisation formed in April 1914 as an auxiliary of the Irish Volunteers.

Helena Molony remained active in the republican cause during the 1930s, particularly with the Women's Prisoner's Defence League and the People's Rights Association.

Helena Molony retired from public life in 1946, but continued to work for women's labour rights; she died in Dublin on 29 January 1967 following a stroke.

Helena Molony is buried in the republican plot at Glasnevin Cemetery.