International Women's Day to be marked by poetry walk in Rathkeale

“WHERE are you from I hear them say, Rathkeale I smile and walk away,
their faces follow - shock, despair - you see my home gets a bad rap to be fair,
but I'm here to tell the truth so mark it to shed light over what gets brushed under the carpet,
we won't be a target for media hate, we will speak our own truth and make our own faith”

These are the opening lines of Rathkeale Together, a poem by the Rathkeale Women's Group, whose members - both Traveller and settled - will gather together this Friday, March 8 to celebrate International Women’s Day and celebrate the town of Rathkeale.

They will march from the Square at 11am, accompanied by female drummers from Macnas in Galway who will lead the way. All are welcome to join in.

Two keynote speakers - Chief Superintendent Aileen Magner and Edel O’Donnell, Traveller liaison officer with UL - will address attendees at an event in Rathkeale House Hotel. Music by Jean O’Brien and Coláiste na Trócaire choir and singing from St Anne’s Primary School’s choir.

The event is being organised by Rathkeale Together, a project under the umbrella of West Limerick Resources.

Valerie Foley, community development officer, said Rathkeale Together is a pilot project which aims to promote cohesion and leadership among the people of Rathkeale, both settled and Traveller. They aim to do this through education, art, community events and dialogue.

“We run a women and men's group, a bereavement group and a carers support group. We also organise social events like the St Patrick's Day parade, Christmas celebrations, kids camps, International Women's Day, amongst several other activities.

“Our women’s group has been going strong for the last two years and is made up of approximately 25 to 30 local women, both settled and Traveller. We meet every Wednesday morning and our activities include, chair yoga, art and crafts, knitting classes, sewing classes and we also did a six week cookery and beauty course in LIT,” said Valerie.

She said the inspiration for the Rathkeale poem, the opening lines of this article, came about because the women’s group were so disappointed with the bad perception people have about Rathkeale.

“Especially in light of the event that happened before Christmas 2023, which was caused by a small cohort of people who were not from the town. We are also disappointed by the bad publicity in the newspapers and social media. To address this we organised a parade on International Women’s Day last March.

“Five hundred women marched down the street of Rathkeale in their purple T-shirts. The colour purple signifies strength, power, loyalty, justice and dignity, it also represents the royal blood that flows in the veins of every suffragette.

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“This poem was written from the heart and signifies what the women of Rathkeale really feel. It was written from pieces of conversations had by the women at our meetings over a number of weeks.

"Our friend Jacinta Sheerin, who is a co-ordinator with Adapt, came to our meetings and wrote down these snippets of conversations and penned the poem for us.

“It was filmed and recorded over a Friday afternoon in our centre in the parish hall. It was first viewed at the seminar for the Rathkeale Together Project on October 12 last,” said Valerie. The video of the poem can be viewed here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZrbKMMktfQ

“Rathkeale is a great community with great people who support and help each other. We will wear our purple again on International Women’s Day this Friday when we walk in unison down the main street of Rathkeale to show we are all the one and we stand together,” said Valerie.