Voice of women ignored in name of roundabout

CALLS to name a new roundabout on the Macroom bypass after Cumann na mBan were shot down by councillors, leaving one councillor to comment that the ‘voice of women past and present, was really let down.’

Fianna Fail Cllr Gobnait Moynihan  made the comment following a vote at recent meeting of the Macroom Municipal District. Cllr Moynihan had called for the roundabout at Coolcower to be named after Cumann na mBan.

‘I had called for the roundabout to be named after a group of very brave women, who have been erased from the history books, and denied any recognition for their brave deeds during the War of Independence,’ she told The Southern Star.

Cllr Moynihan previously raised the motion at a full Council meeting at the start of the year and received widespread support from her party colleagues, including Cllr Deirdre Kelly and Cllr Gillian Coughlan. Cllr Coughlan had said that the men who took part in the struggle for independence are being commemorated all the time, but that the women rarely are. 

However, at a recent meeting of the Macroom Municipal District, four councillors voted against the proposal, instead choosing the name, ‘Coolcower Roundabout.’

‘Geographical significance’ was the reason used to justify voting against Cumann na mBan. What about the Jack Lynch Tunnel? – I’m baffled to understand its ‘geographical significance’,’ said Cllr Moynihan. 

Cllr Moynihan added that ‘geographical significance did not stop Kerry County Council naming a Cleeney roundabout or an MD O’Shea roundabout on the same N22 road.

‘Geographical significance did not stop Longford councillors, either, from name seven roundabouts after high achievers. 

‘The voice of women, past and present, was really let down,’ she added.