The Women of Ireland Project

Eolas Ársa

What influence has Ireland – its history, culture and society – had on the Women of Ireland, on who we are today and how we approach the world?

This is the question which has sparked this project.

I want to explore and better understand the experience of being a Woman of Ireland today and what has contributed to it. I am curious about how Ireland’s culture, history, social norms and social structures have influenced my worldviews, experiences and the way in which I approach the world as a woman. I want to explore this with other women who have grown up or lived in Ireland, experienced Irish culture or connect to Ireland in some way.

To answer this, this project has three main aims:

1. Research and Gather

Exploring women of Ireland in history by examining existing literature, academic research and historical texts on the role, experiences, treatment, activities and views of women of Ireland in the past. Gathering all of this information to better understand how Irish culture has influenced and been influenced by women.

2. Listen and Collect

Interview women of Ireland to collect their stories, perspectives, experiences, insights and opinions on what is like to be a woman of Ireland today.

3. Connect, Write and Share

Connect the findings of the interview study to the review of the historical literature to highlight areas were the women of Ireland today, may be impacted by the past. Write about these findings and share my experiences of doing this project with others so that more knowledge can be created and more stories can be told.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE BY SHARING YOUR PERSPECTIVES ON THE ‘WOMEN OF IRELAND’ OR YOUR EXPERIENCES AS A ‘WOMAN OF IRELAND’, PLEASE GO TO THE PARTICIPATE PAGE

Claire Roche Music

Imbas

Not only is Claire’s music unique, but it is emotionally moving especially when we are present in her live performance.

We think of a harp and what it sounds like and usually relate to the harp as playing tunes. Then we think of singers and what they sound like. We try to think of singers and harps together, but we still cannot match the uniqueness, passion and intimacy that is present during a performance by Claire.

Claire has a passion for words and the spirit and expression or words. Rather than just play tunes, Claire has chosen the harp to be her accompaniment, her choir, her veil to the “otherworld”.  Her words, music and passion gently warms the hearts of those present and fires their spirits into passion, courage, tears, love and laughter.
-By John Willmott, the Woodland Bard

Danu Skincare

Eolas Ársa

My name is Sarah and I’m the founder of Danu Skincare, I’m based in County Kerry and surrounded by wild coastlines, wildlife, and flora.  I create products that are inspired by Irish plants and flowers, tapping into their healing and health properties. I use plants and flowers such as Comfrey and Gorse Flower, a mini revival of ancient Irish traditions and recognition of the power of mother nature.

I love Irish mythology, the name of my business was inspired by Danu; the most ancient of the Celtic gods, mother of the earth, wind, and all Celtic people. I like to think that we all have a little of Danu flowing in our veins!
 
I use locally sourced ingredients as much as possible, my packaging is recyclable and I only ship within Ireland 😊 I am a great believer in the shop local principle. Every time I create a new product sustainability is always forefront of mind.

The Daily Adventurer

Tallamh

The Daily Adventurer was born of a love of Nature and exploring the great outdoors, it’s benefits and beauty. In a year that has put limits on travel and conventional adventure, I wanted to flip the perception of what ‘Adventuring’ means. By creating and posting a weekly calendar of activities, the aim of this project is to get us all outside and doing something different everyday to benefit our heads and hearts. These little adventures act as daily prompts to get us exploring the worlds we live in. There is adventure in everything and it is up to us to find it!

humanature

Crainn

Niamh Geoghegan

Humanature focuses on wellbeing, creativity and connection. It offers bespoke programmes tailored for all ages interested in connecting in meaningful ways to the self, community and our natural environment.  By tapping into peoples innate creativity, our activities provide grounding, playful, educational and fulfilling experiences primarily in nature.

Nature mirrors our own innate creativity. Our ability as humans to imagine and create, separates us from the other animals we share this planet with. It is this ability to imagine, and then reimagine that can ultimately bring about change to benefit ourselves and our planet. How we choose to come into relationship with ourselves, other people and our environment defines the outcome.

Humanature offers the much needed balance in our ever growing digital world. People of all ages are spending less time outdoors and as a result our health and our planet’s health is suffering. Humanature aims to combat this by building creative and resilient communities that respect and care for their natural environment.

The Irish Gardener

Tallamh

Peter Dowdall

All my life I have been interested in and worked in gardens, gardening, landscaping and garden design in Ireland and the UK. 

I present on RTE and TV3 television and on radio in Ireland and I am also the Garden Design and Gardening columnist for the Irish Examiner newspaper along with being a regular Features writer for The Irish Garden magazine.

I am passionate about gardens, gardening, landscaping and plants and I have hopefully managed to share my enthusiasm with many others and helped a few budding gardeners along the way.

I fervently believe that the garden offers us the solutions to nearly all of our modern day problems:

  • Our mental health benefits from just being outside in the Great Outdoors.
  • Our physical health is improved by the aerobic workout which a day gardening will provide and also by eating the fresh organic produce from the garden.
  • And the garden has  critical roles to play in counteracting the effects of climate change and slowing the rate of species extinction

I often recommend environmentally sound, sustainable and organic gardening products and plants in the media and am then faced with a slew of questions regarding where can people get them and this is what prompted me to set up this store.

Here, I can offer for sale plants and products which I like to use in my own garden and in gardens of clients for whom I am working. These are what you’ll find in my garden shed so to speak.

I don’t have a garden centre or retail business as such, and this is a new departure for me so please bear with me if we run into any teething problems.

In the real world I work as a garden designer and consultant: 

Any garden project needs to start with a good garden design, and for that design to be properly implemented, the correct landscaper needs to be identified and the entire project managed so that the garden design becomes the landscape creation which is envisioned.

With my designs I aim to create aesthetically beautiful, usable, practical outdoor spaces. Each client and each home or business will always have a style of their own and I like to design gardens which compliment that style be that a contemporary garden design or something more traditional in style.

Maintaining and enhancing biodiversity is one of the challenges facing everyone at the moment and I feel responsible for creating gardens which will do just that.

Sugarloaf Botanics

Eolas Ársa

I’m Laura, a nurse and a mammy of two beautiful boys, and I’m lucky enough to call the Great Sugarloaf in Wicklow my home.
I love growing plants more than anything, and over the past few years have learned how to incorporate both local and cultivated plants and herbs into organic skin and body care to support us through the seasons. 

I grow, harvest, dry and infuse these plants into the oils that make these delicate and soothing products from my home here in Wicklow.  Everything is made in small batches, with a whole lot of care and attention and all our packaging is recyclable or biodegradable. All our ingredients are organic where at all possible and I am always looking to work with ethical and local suppliers. 

Natural Events

Tallamh

Natural Events will be a new unique events space situated in the foot hills of the Shehy mountain range in the heart of West Cork. We will be spending the next two years clearing, re-building, planting & landscaping this stunning location into the perfect venue to host weddings, private parties, corporate & alternative events.

To be able to achieve this vision let us tell you a bit about ourselves. We have worked in the events industry for many years running an events  company called Audio Jack, we have covered everything from full festival infrastructure to personalized civil ceremonies.

This new venture will incorporate all of our knowledge and understanding to be able to offer a complete events package from start to finish.

We will be launching Natural Events to the public for the start of 2022.

We invite you to follow us on this journey and see our dream become a reality, we will be posting updates and goings on from this beautiful location.

Irish Seed Savers

Tallamh

Our main objective is to protect Ireland’s food crop heritage for future generations. Our work focuses on the conservation of heirloom vegetable seeds and Irish heritage apple trees. In recent years we have expanded the scope of our work to include crop varieties from all over the world that are suitable for Ireland’s unique growing conditions.

Irish Seed Savers Association maintains the country’s only public seed bank, with over 600 non-commercially available varieties of seed. We also house the national collection of Irish heritage apple trees in our orchards, with over 180+ unique varieties.  Throughout the year we run a wide range of workshops, host school tours, and invite the public to participate in our events days. We encourage communities to come together to share seeds and plants, all with the aim of promoting Ireland’s biodiversity.

Emily Nayhree Dawson

Imbas

Emily Nayhree Dawson is an artist, street artist and fashion designer from the Dublin Mountains. She showed her art all over the world for many years and more recently put her art on to fashion. This made an impression at New York Fashion Week and now Emily is a regular at New York and Paris with new collections each season. Emily’s art was always deep rooted in Irelands ancestral history and she spends much of her time at Ériú’s sacred sites. She also has a collection of poetry and rap music that offers a social commentary on Ireland’s past and present. Emily spent time in the protest camps and squatting NAMA buildings and turning them into art galleries and social/cultural centres. Her main interests are gardening, spirituality and simple living.