Nora Bennis (11 November 1940 – 11 February 2019) was an Irish

housewife A housewife (also known as a homemaker or a stay-at-home mother/mom/mum) is a woman whose role is running or managing her family's home—housekeeping, which includes caring for her children; cleaning and maintaining the home; making, buying an ...

and political activist from

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

, who was a prominent advocate of traditional Catholic family values in the 1990s. ; reprinted in * *

Early and personal life

Bennis was born Nora Shinners, the daughter of Paul Shinners, a veteran of the Easter Rising and

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 ...

supporter who emigrated to England and returned to Limerick after marrying Margaret, with whom he had five children. Aged 22, Nora married Gerry Bennis, who worked for

Telecom Éireann Telecom Éireann (; meaning "Telecommunications of Ireland") was an Irish state-owned telecommunications company that operated from 1983 to 1999. Prior to then a telephone and postal service was provided by the Department of Posts and Telegraph ...

and was prominent in Limerick GAA; his brothers

Richie Richie or Richy is a masculine given name or short form (hypocorism) of Richard. It is also a surname. First name *Richie Ashburn (1927–1997), American Major League Baseball player, member of the Hall of Fame *Richie Benaud (1930–2015), Austr ...

and

Phil Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as a root ter ...

both won a 1973 All-Ireland hurling medal. Nora and Gerry had three daughters and a son. She taught Irish dance.

Early activism

Bennis began her activism after going to a 1990 conference in Brighton hoping to hear

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, MC (; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa ( sq, Nënë Tereza), was an Indian-Albanian Catholic nun who, in 1950, founded the Missionaries of Charity. Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu () was ...

, who did not attend. She was impressed by speakers who criticised the "liberal agenda". After the 1992

X case ''Attorney General v X'', 992IESC 1; 9921 IR 1, (more commonly known as the "X Case") was a landmark Irish Supreme Court case which established the right of Irish women to an abortion if a pregnant woman's life was at risk because of pregnanc ...

reopened Ireland's abortion debate, she started Women Working at Home and the Irish Mothers Working at Home Association, as a support network for housewives who felt isolated or ignored. She criticised the

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, sexual activity, sexual reproduc ...

program as being values-free, and its "Stay Safe" program of

child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...

awareness as undermining parental authority. In 1994 she became leader of the Solidarity Movement, an alliance of independent political candidates linked to the

Family Solidarity Family Solidarity is an Irish conservative advocacy group run by lay Catholics. Founded in 1984 by supporters of the campaign that led to the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, it campaigned against the introduction of divorce. Nor ...

pressure-group. She stood as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

in Munster in the

1994 European Parliament election The 1994 European Parliamentary election was a European election held across the 12 European Union member states in June 1994. This election saw the merge of the European People's Party and European Democrats, an increase in the overall numbe ...

, getting 5% of the first-preference vote. This unexpectedly strong showing increased her media profile. In 1995 the Solidarity Movement was part of the "No to Divorce" campaign, one of two coalitions which opposed the successful 1995 referendum to introduce divorce. After the referendum, she founded the National Party, which was anti-abortion and proposed a £100 allowance for non-working mothers. She stood for the party in

Limerick East Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. With a populati ...

in the general elections of

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

and 2002 and the 1998 by-election, receiving progressively fewer votes.

2010s

Bennis was a spokesperson for Catholic Democrats (previously named National Party and the Christian Democrats) and secretary of Mothers Alliance Ireland; both groups opposed the 2012 children's rights amendment. She formed a group called Alliance of Parents Against the State, intended to co-ordinate opposition to the amendment. She claimed the amendment would put children "in grave danger of being legally snatched by the State". Bennis was one of three substitutes for Catholic Democrats candidate Theresa Heaney in the

South constituency South ( is, Suður) is one of the six multi-member constituencies of the Althing, the national legislature of Iceland. The constituency was established as Southern ( is, Suðurland) in 1959 following the nationwide extension of proportional repr ...

in the

2014 European elections Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrel ...

. She was a candidate in the 2016 General Election in the Limerick City constituency, where she failed to be elected, receiving 1.4% of the first-preference vote.

Death

Bennis died in Limerick on 11 February 2019, aged 78.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennis, Nora 1940 births 2019 deaths Housewives Irish Roman Catholics Irish anti-abortion activists Irish women activists Politicians from County Limerick Candidates in Dáil elections