| Collection Description | Eithne Coyle O'Donnell, born 1897, elected President of Cumann na mBan in 1926,
resigned (unsuccessfully) in 1940. She organised branches of Cumann na mBan in her
native Falcarragh, County Donegal (with Leslie Price) in 1918, subsequently in Tyrone
and Roscommon until her arrest in January, 1921. She was imprisoned in Roscommon,
Athlone and Mountjoy gaols, escaped from latter in October, 1921 with Eileen Keogh,
Kathleen May Burke and Linda Kearns escaped from Mountjoy. She lived in hiding until
the outbreak of the civil war when she returned to Dublin, carried arms and messages for
the Volunteers and worked for Cumann na mBan in Dawson Street. She was imprisoned
again in Mountjoy and she went on hunger strike for achievement of political status. She
was released in 1923 she spent the 1920s and 1930s writing pamphlets presenting the
Republican and Cumann na mBan position, and growing increasingly critical of de
Valera's government. She died in January 1985. |
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