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Margaret Collins-O'Driscoll
Irish politician (1878–1945) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Margaret Collins-O'Driscoll (18 August 1876 – 17 June 1945) was an Irish Cumann na nGaedheal politician who served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin North constituency from 1923 to 1933.
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Early life
Margaret Mary Collins was born in Woodfield, Clonakilty, County Cork, on 18 August 1876.[1] The eldest of three daughters and five sons of Michael Collins, a farmer, and Mary Anne O'Brien.[2] She was the eldest sister of the Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins. She was educated at Baggot Street Training College and was a schoolteacher and school principal before entering politics.[3] A primary-school teacher, for many years she was the principal of Lisavaird girls' national school in Clonakilty, and also taught in Dublin.[2]
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Politics
Collins-O'Driscoll was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Cumann na nGaedheal TD for the eight-member Dublin North constituency at the 1923 general election,[4] becoming her party's first woman TD. In 1926, she was elected vice-president of the party. She was the only woman to serve as a member of the Dáil between September 1927 and February 1932.[2]
Socially conversative, Collins-O'Driscoll voted in favour of the 1928 Censorship of Publications bill, which banned indecent literature and publications that referred to birth control; and she voted with the government in favour of the 1924 and 1927 juries bills, which restricted jury service for women.[2]
She was re-elected at each election after 1923, until she lost her seat at the 1933 general election.[5]
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Family
She married Patrick O'Driscoll on 8 September 1901 at Rosscarbery's Roman Catholic chapel in County Cork. The couple had 14 children: five sons and nine daughters.[2]
Actress Dervla Kirwan is a great-granddaughter of the O'Driscolls.[6]
References
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