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NORTHERN IRELAND
In 1997, I was invited to go on the First Feminist Brigade to Northern Ireland, led by Bernadette Devlin.
The North was still under military occupation, with patrols, surveillance, searches and detentions a daily part of life. We interviewed scientists, doctors, environmentalists, feminists, Sinn Fein representatives and former political prisoners. A highlight was meeting Jerry Adams at an event for the retiring Catholic deacon at Armagh Prison.
The room was filled with three hundred or so middle-aged ladies, chatty yet matronly. It turned out to be the Women Felons Society, all IRA felons who had spent time at Armagh. I don’t know the South, a very different experience. But I fell in love with tough Belfast.
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