Hanna Sheehy Skeffington calls on Dáil Éireann to allow women vote on same terms as men
Dublin, 28 January 1922 – The Irish Women’s Franchise League (IWFL) has called on Dáil Éireann to amend the laws to allow women to vote on the same terms as men. At present only women over 30 who meet certain property qualifications are entitled to vote in general elections, while all men over 21 have the right.
At a meeting held at the organisation’s offices on Westmoreland Street in Dublin yesterday, Hanna Sheehy Skeffington said that the IWFL had approached Arthur Griffith and Éamon de Valera for the purposes of getting them to receive a deputation to discuss the matter.
Dr Margaret Ward explains the early stages of the Irish suffrage movement in the 19th century
Mr de Valera was away and Mr Griffith sent a reply to the effect that owing to the pressures of important business he was unable to give a date to receive the deputation. He asked instead that the IWFL submit a memorandum on the matter.
Unimpressed by Mr Griffith’s response, Mrs Sheehy Skeffington said that, if necessary, the women of the league would continue to educate him in the same way they had educated John Redmond in the past.
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
