Coordinator of Cork Traveller Women's Network, a grass-roots community organisation that works for Traveller rights, leadership, culture and heritage.

Her achievement: As head of the Cork Traveller Women's Network, Brigid Carmody has not only given a voice to Traveller women, but she has helped to create a greater understanding and appreciation of Traveller culture in Irish society.

For decades, government policy sought to settle Travellers rather than develop ways of allowing their unique culture to flourish. Through her work, Brigid has been working to record, celebrate and protect Traveller heritage.

She has highlighted decades of neglect of Traveller culture, pointing out that it has been overlooked and misrepresented. It is still not taught in schools, but Brigid Carmody’s work with activists and organisations around the country, is designed to carve out a new space to tell the story of Irish Travellers.

In her own words: “I am proud of my history, my culture and my family and who I am. I want my children to be proud of who they are and to make a better life for Travellers in Cork.”

Caitríona Twomey, volunteer co-ordinator of Cork Penny Dinners, a charity that offers food and support to anyone in need.

Her achievement: As the voluntary driving force behind Penny Dinners, one of Cork city’s oldest caring charities, Caitríona Twomey has spent decades serving food and offering non-judgemental support to anybody who seeks help.

She was introduced to the need for such support as a child when she complained that her father Tom Lynch, a sergeant in Collins Barracks, went missing every Christmas Day. The next year, he invited her to join him as he visited the College of Commerce to join volunteers who were giving a festive dinner to people in need.

It opened her eyes to the extent of suffering in the wider community and influenced her decision to devote her life to helping others. Since she joined Penny Dinners, she has helped to transform it into a dynamic organisation responding to new needs – such as food poverty among students – when they arise.

In her own words: “Nobody goes hungry on our watch.”

Dr Evelyn Grant, musician, broadcaster, educator, arts advocate, social entrepreneur and co-founder of the Cork Pops Orchestra.

Her achievement: Evelyn Grant once described herself as a “Swiss-army knife musician”, a humble but evocative label that captures the essence of her determination to ensure that everyone has access to the joy of music.

She wears many hats, from former lecturer at MTU Cork School of Music to presenter of Weekend Drive on RTÉ Lyric FM, but it is her commitment to accessible music-making that has earned her widespread recognition. She was the first Irish person to receive a Master’s Degree in Community Music and was later awarded a PhD from UCC for her research on social inclusion in music education in Ireland.

The Cork Pops Orchestra concerts for schools series, running for over 30 years, brings all kinds of music to thousands of primary and post-primary students every year.

In her own words: “While we know all about the power of music, we are constantly knocked out by the openness of our young audiences to music, and the impact of it on the older people and the staff in the care homes we visit.”

Dola Twomey, therapist/activist at the Sexual Violence Centre Cork.

Her achievement: Dola Twomey has, for several decades, relentlessly campaigned to change a world that facilitates and ignores violence. She works as a therapist and activist and has consistently advocated for policy and legislative change in the areas of sexual violence, sex trafficking, domestic violence, female genital mutilation and human rights.

In 2000, Dola designed and set up the domestic violence service, One Stop Shop Cork, the first of its kind in the city. She was also instrumental in establishing Stalking in Ireland, a dedicated support service for victims of stalking.

In her role as therapist, Dola Twomey has been able to identify gaps in services and establish projects, such as Safegigs Ireland, to bring about change in attitudes to prevent violence. For example, the campaign #FixedIt – Ireland challenges misleading or victim-blaming media headlines that perpetuate dangerous myths about sexual violence.

In her own words: “As long as we just look at the victim, we’re not looking at the context in which they were assaulted. We’re not looking at how it can be stopped.”

Edna O’Brien (1930-2024), novelist, memoirist, playwright, poet and short-story writer.

Her achievement: Edna O’Brien broke new artistic ground by giving voice to the experiences of women in Ireland. Her debut novel, The Country Girls, was banned in Ireland in 1960 and denounced for the very thing that made it exceptional – its depiction of two young women as emotional and sexual beings who questioned the restrictions of their Roman Catholic upbringing.

The books that completed the trilogy – Girl with Green Eyes (1962) and Girls in Their Married Bliss (1963) – were also banned, but Edna went on to write many more novels, plays and screenplays, earning a reputation as a courageous and gifted writer who ushered in a new era in Irish literature.

In 2019, at the age of 89, she also had the satisfaction of seeing her banned trilogy being chosen as Dublin’s One City One Book.

In her own words: “I am seen as a genteel romantic writer. But the reality is I am a savage writer with a savage eye. I write about the things we are not supposed to speak about.”

Joanne O’Riordan, sports journalist, disability activist, motivational speaker and student of law.

Her achievement: Joanne O’Riordan is one of seven people in the world living with tetra-amelia syndrome, a condition that means she was born without limbs. The title of a 2013 documentary about her life, No Limbs, No Limits, characterises her attitude to overcoming the considerable challenges of living, studying and working in a world built for able-bodied people.

During the 2011 election campaign, she took the morning off school to meet then-Taoiseach Enda Kenny and, in doing so, brought about a U-turn in government plans to cut disability funding. The following year, she addressed the UN, challenging the international body to develop technology to help people with disabilities. She got a standing ovation. Awards and recognition followed.

She was a sports pundit at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris and is now pursuing a career in law.

In her own words: “All decision makers, lobby groups, legislators and so many others should see what the Paralympics brings to those with a disability. Independence, pride, visibility and a general sense of ‘We’re disabled, and?’”

Mary Crilly, feminist activist and founding member and CEO of the Sexual Violence Centre Cork.

Her achievement: Over several decades, Mary Crilly has witnessed, and been party to, much of the positive change for victims of violence in Irish society. Since the Sexual Violence Centre first opened its door on International Women’s Day in 1983, she has tirelessly campaigned for policy and legislative change in the fields of sexual violence, human trafficking, domestic violence, stalking, female genital mutilation, forced marriage and human rights. She is active at local, regional, national and international levels.

Mary holds an MA in Women’s Studies and a diploma in the Psychology of Criminal Behaviour from University College Cork (UCC). In 2019, Mary received the Athena Swan Equality Award from UCC. In 2022, she was awarded the Freedom of the City by Cork City Council “in recognition of her unstinting support and advocacy for survivors of sexual violence over four decades”. In 2003, she was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the National University of Ireland and also received an Alumni award from UCC.

In her own words: “I’d love to eradicate sexual violence. But if victim blaming could be eradicated, that would be great. It’s never the victim’s fault.”

Dr Myra Cullinane, medical doctor, barrister and Senior Dublin District coroner who held the Stardust inquests.

Her achievement: Dr Myra Cullinane made history when she became the first female coroner in Cork, one of the busiest coronial districts in the country, and, again, more recently when she was the presiding coroner at the Stardust nightclub fire inquests, the longest-running hearing of its kind in the history of the State.

At the start of the 122-day hearings, she ensured that the bereaved families were at the centre of the process by inviting them to provide pen portraits of each of the 48 people who died in a fire on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1981. In doing so, the focus of the inquest was not only on establishing the facts of the nightclub fire, but on honouring those who died by publicly reclaiming their identities and acknowledging the lasting impact of the tragic loss of so many young people on their families.

In her own words: “The presentations brought home to all of us [...] the impact of this disaster on so many lives. I sincerely thank the families for allowing us to participate in their most private and treasured memories.”

Honora ‘Nano’ Nagle (1718-1784), pioneering educator, defender of the poor and founder of the Presentation Sisters religious order.

Her achievement: Working outside the law – and the conventions of her class – Nano Nagle set up schools for poor Catholic children at a time when the Penal Laws in Ireland forbade them. Born into a distinguished family in Cork in 1718, she might have settled into the genteel life of an 18th-century woman. However, when she returned to live in Cork in the 1750s she was struck by the extreme poverty and lack of education among children, and resolved to do something about it.

While in France, she saw how free education could transform the lives of poor people, and this inspired her to work in secret to establish schools in Cork despite the legal risks. When she inherited a fortune from her uncle, she had new means which she used to establish seven schools for Catholic children, an alms-house for elderly women and, later, a new congregation that would become the Presentation Order.

In her own words: “I often think my schools will never bring me to heaven, as I only take delight and pleasure in them.”

Dr Naomi Masheti, psychologist, three-time UCC graduate and Programme Director of the Cork Migrant Centre.

Her achievement: Dr Naomi Masheti puts migrants and their needs at the centre of her work as coordinator of the Cork Migrant Centre at Nano Nagle Place. She works closely with families in direct provision and, drawing on her scholarship, she has developed culturally sensitive programmes designed to create a safe place for migrant families while promoting wellbeing and integration.

Originally from Kenya, she has been living in Cork since 2001. She graduated with a BA in Applied Psychology from UCC in 2007, followed by an MA in Forensic Psychology in 2008, and a PhD specialising in the psychosocial wellbeing of Sub-Saharan African migrant children in 2015. 

In 2024, she received a Cork Lord Mayor’s Community and Voluntary Award in recognition of her work and contribution to social justice.

In her own words: “It always starts with listening, understanding [migrants’] many emotional and practical needs and then creating the activities and programmes and the enabling conditions to address these.”

Dr Patricia Sheahan, consultant palliative care physician and head of palliative care at University Hospital Kerry.

Her achievement: Dr Patricia Sheahan has been recognised for her outstanding dedication to cancer patients in Kerry, and her role in developing a fully integrated palliative care service for the people of Kerry, alongside Kerry Hospice Foundation. A native of Listowel, she was named Kerry Person of the Year in 2022 for her contribution to palliative care medicine.

Her decision to follow a career in palliative medicine was shaped by seeing her own grandmother being cared for at home before she died. That was possible because many of her grandmother’s children had a medical background and were able to provide a sort of familial multidisciplinary team. Dr Patricia Sheahan felt everyone should be entitled to have what her grandmother got, a belief that influenced her work in creating what is considered one of the best palliative care services in the country.

In her own words: “If you were asking me what has palliative medicine done for me, it has made me realise that we have to live today and enjoy today and that we should go to bed, all of us, at night, feeling there was something good about today.”