Máire MacSwiney Brugha (23 June 1918 – 20 May 2012) was an Irish activist who was the daughter of
Terence MacSwiney
Terence James MacSwiney (; ga, Toirdhealbhach Mac Suibhne; 28 March 1879 – 25 October 1920) was an Irish playwright, author and politician. He was elected as Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork during the Irish War of Independence in 1920. He ...
and niece of
Mary MacSwiney
Mary MacSwiney (pronounced 'MacSweeney'; ga, Máire Nic Shuibhne; 27 March 1872 – 8 March 1942) was an Irish politician and educationalist. In 1927 she became deputy leader of Sinn Féin when Éamon de Valera resigned from the presidency of ...
. As well as an activist she was also an author and is now regarded as a person of historical importance.
Early life
MacSwiney Brugha was the daughter of the former lord mayor of Cork
Terence MacSwiney
Terence James MacSwiney (; ga, Toirdhealbhach Mac Suibhne; 28 March 1879 – 25 October 1920) was an Irish playwright, author and politician. He was elected as Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork during the Irish War of Independence in 1920. He ...
and his wife
Muriel Frances Murphy. Her father died on hunger strike when she was 2 years old. Her father was in jail when she was born and didn't see her until she was three months old, when she was brought to see him. Her family's republican and political activities left a strong mark on her life.
Once her father died her mother moved to Dublin. MacSwiney went to live with
Nancy O'Rahilly, widow of
The O'Rahilly, and saw her mother intermittently. Although as a child her parents decided she would speak Irish, her father's death and her mother's health meant that she was moved to Germany in 1923 and there she was moved around a lot. She learned German and spoke no English and little or no Irish. In 1930 MacSwiney was moved to
Grainau
Grainau is a municipality in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in southern Bavaria, Germany. It is located at the foot of the Zugspitze mountain, the tallest mountain in Germany in the sub-mountain range of the Wetterstein Alps which is a b ...
, in
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
where she attended school. Her aunt
Mary MacSwiney
Mary MacSwiney (pronounced 'MacSweeney'; ga, Máire Nic Shuibhne; 27 March 1872 – 8 March 1942) was an Irish politician and educationalist. In 1927 she became deputy leader of Sinn Féin when Éamon de Valera resigned from the presidency of ...
, a legal guardian of hers, eventually came to collect her and took her back to Ireland. This caused a court case when it was claimed her aunt had kidnapped her. As a result of the court case her aunt was given custody, and she and her mother became estranged.
Education and career
MacSwiney attended Scoil Íte and then
St. Louis convent in
Monaghan
Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Ireland. It also provides the name of its civil parish and barony.
The population of the town as of the 2016 census was 7,678. The town is on the N2 road from Dublin to Derry and Lette ...
where, in 1936, she completed her Leaving Certificate and got a scholarship to
University College Cork
University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork.
The university was founded in 1845 as one ...
to study arts. In 1937 MacSwiney played the lead role in a play, ''The Revolutionist'' was published in 1914, written by her father and produced by her aunt.
She returned to Germany in 1938 to keep up her German and graduated with a first-class honours degree. She went on to get her Higher Diploma and became a teacher. She spent some time teaching in Scoil Íte and then went to Dublin in 1942 to get a master's degree. She met
Ruairí Brugha
Ruairí Brugha (; 15 October 1917 – 31 January 2006) was an Irish Republican and IRA volunteer who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Ireland from 1977 to 1979, Senator for the Industrial and Commercial Panel from 1969 ...
while in Dublin. His father,
Cathal Brugha, was killed in the
Irish Civil War in 1922 . She married 10 July 1945. They had Deirdre, Cathal, Traolach and Ruairí.
Married life
Her husband had a strong political career with her support. He was a senator, a TD, and a member of the European Parliament. MacSwiney Brugha lead her
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...
cumann and volunteered with the aid agency
Gorta. With her husband as Official Opposition Spokesman on Northern Ireland from 1975 to 1977, the couple were very much involved in creating the policy of developing conciliation rather than aimed more at ending partition which they previously had been focused on.
At the age of 85 and after her sight had failed she dictated her story to her daughter-in-law, Catherine Brugha. ''History's Daughter: A Memoir from the Only Child of Terence MacSwiney'' was launched in 2005.
Her own story was recorded in ''Irish Life and Lore''.
Her story was also the subject of a radio production.
Fianna Fáil leader
Micheál Martin
Micheál Martin (; born 1 August 1960) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who is serving as Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence since December 2022. He served as Taoiseach from 2020 to 2022 and has been Leader of ...
described her as having made a “strong and valued” contribution to the development of Fianna Fáil while
Gerry Adams
Gerard Adams ( ga, Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh; born 6 October 1948) is an Irish republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011 to 2020. ...
said she “made her mark” on Irish history.
References and sources
{{DEFAULTSORT:MacSwiney Brugha, Maire
1918 births
2012 deaths
20th-century Irish writers
20th-century Irish actresses
Alumni of University College Cork
Irish pacifists
20th-century Irish women writers
Burials at Glasnevin Cemetery