Cork activist dies after over three decades of service to the community
Siobhán O'Dowd, who played a key role in several gay rights, equality, and community development campaigns for more than three decades, died peacefully at home in the city last night following a short illness. She was 61.
She died on the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia — a movement she helped pioneer in Cork — and just weeks after she was presented with one of the Lord Mayor's civic awards for 2025.
She was honoured by Lord Mayor councillor Dan Boyle for her long-term contributions to community development, inclusion, lifelong learning, and LGBT+ activism in Cork.
In posts on social media today, former lord mayor councillor John Sheehan described her as 'a real inspiration' while former lord mayor and former councillor Mick Finn described her as 'an inspirational warrior'.
The Lantern Project at Nano Nagle Place described her as 'a champion of the city'.
'Siobhán was a champion in our city in so many ways,' it said.
She encouraged us in our work at the Lantern Nano Nagle Place and was both, a friend and a mentor to us.
'Ballyphehane Togher CDP has been a leader in highlighting the importance of community education and helped to put it firmly on political agendas and with her colleagues Siobhán brought many issues to the attention of other change makers.
'Siobhán lived her work, loved her work, and had a deep understanding of the value of accepting and meeting people exactly where they are at.
'Siobhán's leadership, brilliant mind and global vision will be missed.
'As friends and colleagues carry on her important work, they will honour her.'
Born in Kerry in 1964, Ms O'Dowd moved to Cork in the mid 1980s.
She was one of the founding members of Cork Aids Alliance, a group that included lesbian, gay, and straight people who worked together to address the enormous stigma around Aids and HIV.
She co-chaired the alliance for two years and was later appointed the first full-time co-ordinator of the alliance in 1990.
She worked as a community worker across the city for over 30 years and was the long-time co-ordinator of Ballyphehane Togher Community Development Project.
She was a member of the original steering group which established the Cairde Corcaí/LINC lesbian and bisexual community centre in 1999. Together with Tina O'Toole, she helped obtain EU Equality for Women funding for LINC which helped further its development.
She was also a member of the Cork City LGBT+ InterAgency Group since its inception in 2002 and was appointed chairperson in 2017.
Since 2010 the group has organised an annual Cork LGBT+ Awareness Week, and at the opening of the 2014 week, Cork city became the first place to fly the rainbow flag formally from a civic or public building in Ireland, when organisers and Cork City Council agreed to fly a rainbow flag over City Hall.
In 2018 Cork City signed a 'Rainbow Memorandum' with one one its largest twin cities, San Francisco, and later that year won LGBT Ally of the year award in the national Gala Awards.
In 2020 Cork City became the first city on the island of Ireland to become part of the international Rainbow Cities Network.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Irish Examiner
Mick Clifford: Is it time to cut Bono a little slack over Gaza?
Here's a line that will most likely elicit some derision: Maybe Bono is entitled to be cut a little slack. Last week, the singer and his U2 bandmates released individual statements about the genocide in Gaza. An ageing rock band collectively making a pronouncement on such a matter at this point in time is highly questionable. That the four members released their own individual statements borders on the ridiculous. Notwithstanding that, the reaction to Bono in particular has been savagely negative. On social media, comments about the singer's statement were was visceral, vitriolic, and here and there even freighted with a form of hatred. The whole farrago spoke volumes, not just about Bono's image in some quarters of this country, but how comments around the attack on Gaza have evolved A few matters require laying out before cutting the singer some slack. The first is that the only people who matter a whit in any discussion on Gaza are those being murdered and starved from the ruins created by the Israeli Defense Forces. The second matter of note is that it could all stop tomorrow if the US — and not just Donald Trump — ceased providing the means to perpetrate the genocide. In previous decades, at various spots around the world, the US did step in the prevent slaughter of innocents. Here, it is enabling such slaughter. That brings us back to Bono. Skill and status Whatever one thinks of the singer, his music, or his musings, there is one incontrovertible fact about the work he has done on Aids, hunger, and debt relief in the developing world: An unaccountable number of people who would otherwise be dead are alive today because of his efforts. This plaudit also applies to thousands of workers on the ground across the globe, but Bono brings a particular skill and status to his work. Those who have benefitted live in the poorest outposts of Africa and Asia, and are probably so preoccupied in trying to stay alive and provide for families that they haven't an iota who he is. But their lives matter as much as any life in Tel Aviv or Gaza, Ireland or the US. Palestinian and Israeli activists take part in a protest against the killing of journalists in the Gaza Strip as they gather in the West Bank town of Beit Jala on Friday. Picture: Mahmoud Illean/AP There has been criticism of his work, particularly along the lines that he represents a white man interfering in the lives of black people, making them dependent rather than minding his own business. Much of this criticism is informed by an ideology that dictates it is preferable to allow people die today in order to contribute towards some abstract form of justice tomorrow. To suggest in some ways that Bono's work and focus has been flawed is entirely justified. To infer that he should therefore have done nothing at all in this area is wantonly misguided — to put it as its most charitable When the October 7 massacre by Hamas on innocent Israelis occurred, U2 were playing a residency in Las Vegas. The following night, during Pride, the band's song about Martin Luther King, Bono took a moment to pay tribute to 'those beautiful kids at that music festival'. It was an appropriate intervention and in keeping with the band's long-standing ethos. Months later, that clip was circulated on social media. By then, Israel's murderously disproportionate response to Hamas was well under way. The Gaza Strip was being laid to ruin, innocents killed by the thousand. Any initial sympathy for Israelis was being ground down by the relentless bombing of a whole people as if they were collectively culpable for Hamas's crimes. At this time of growing anger against the Israeli government and its defence forces, U2 — and Bono in particular — were cast as viewing the whole thing through the lens of the oppressor. It was, like so much on social media, both a gross distortion and most likely highly effective in its aim. Since then, as the genocide has developed, as the forced starvation has begun to kill, Bono's silence has been used as a stick to beat him. The basest of motives — principally concern for his money and celebrity — have been ascribed to him as if the main thrust of his life's work has been all about material acquisition. Focus on catastrophes Last weekend, the long-awaited statement condemning Israel was released and, in addition, Bono penned an opinion piece for the Atlantic magazine. In both, he referenced the work he has done over the last 30-plus years. 'As a co-founder of the One Campaign, which tackles Aids and extreme poverty in Africa, I felt my experience should be focused on the catastrophes facing that work and that part of the world,' he wrote. 'The haemorrhaging of human life in Sudan or Ethiopia hardly makes the news. The civil war in Sudan alone is beyond comprehension, leaving 150,000 dead and 2m people facing famine.' Surely he has a point. If so, his silence up to this juncture makes perfect sense. Along with Bob Geldof, he has a crucial role in getting the US to intervene in the Aids and debt crises in Africa 20 years ago. That has made a difference to the lives of anonymous Africans who exist far from any media focus. Last January, Trump began dismantling foreign aid to the developing world by closing the national agency, USAid. A study published in The Lancet in June estimated that USAid had saved 90m lives over the last 20 years. Mourners sit around the grave of Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, who was killed alongside other journalists in an overnight Israeli strike on their tent in Gaza City. Picture: Omar Al-qatta/AFP The research also concluded that, if the current approach to aid from the Trump administration continues, 14m people will die by 2030. Against such a febrile background, Bono may well have concluded it was best for the sake of the work he has been involved in to keep his own counsel rather than anger Trump's administration. The current US president has a record of lashing out against those who irritate or anger him, and there would be every possibility that he could do so against any of the projects to which Bono has lent his weight. Any high profile intervention on his part would have no effect on the US's enablement of the Gaza genocide, but it may well have had repercussions for the lives of others who are struggling against the ravages of famine and war. On that basis, his silence was not just understandable but morally sound The reality is that the US's moral authority in the world at large has been severely damaged through a combination of Trump's policies and the complete capitulation of the country's power centres to a war criminal such as Benjamin Netanyahu. All sorts of leaders in other countries, in business, in the arts, and in development work are scrambling to come to terms with the current global dispensation. It certainly looks like Bono had some struggles in this regard. For those who revel in casting him as one who is only concerned with his own welfare, such struggles had precious little to do with considerations for the dispossessed. A more nuanced view might concede that his record suggests he has as much social conscience, if not far more, than many of his critics.
Irish Examiner
03-08-2025
- Irish Examiner
‘We need Pride more than ever now': Solidarity and celebration at Cork Pride parade
The Pride movement is needed now more than ever, the 2025 Cork Pride parade heard amid mounting concerns that hard-won rights are being eroded. Organisers of the Cork LGBT+ Pride Festival issued the rallying call on Sunday as an estimated 5,000 people marched in or watched the colourful parade, and its giant rainbow flag, wind its way through the city to the Party at the Port — the climax of the week-long Pride festival, which had as its theme, 'A fearless future'. Damian O'Halloran, vice chair of Cork Pride, said the theme is not just a statement — it's a rhetorical question. 'Can we really have a fearless future, when around the world we are watching the hard-won rights of our communities being stripped away?' he asked. Cork City Council staff and friends at the 2025 Cork Pride Parade on Sunday. 'So today, we gather not just in celebration, but in solidarity. We gather to say: We will not be silent. We will not be afraid. And we will not be erased.' He praised those previous campaigning generations, and those who marched on Sunday. 'Because showing up is an act of courage. And in doing so, you're helping shape what a fearless future truly looks like,' he said. Speaking to the Irish Examiner after the parade, Mr O'Halloran said progress has been made but added: 'A lot of bullies now have a voice, they are standing up because they are not afraid anymore and when you see leaders across the globe demonstrating rhetoric like that, people aren't afraid anymore to say what they want because there is no sanction. "It's about policy, and that starts with the leadership of the country.' Lisa Lynch, Linda O'Mahony, and Kelly and Aisling O'Sullivan from Glanmire enjoying the Party at the Port on Kennedy Quay after the 2025 Cork Pride Parade on Sunday. Denise Boyle, chair of Cork Pride, said the community has to keep marching. 'My message to young people here today is to be happy with who you are, and know that there is lots of support out there for you — don't struggle by yourself,' she said. Diarmuid Scully, a member of UCC's LGBT staff network, said that homophobia thrived in the past by dividing people, and making them afraid. Staff from Apple and their families at the 2025 Cork Pride Parade at the Grand Parade, Cork City, on Sunday. 'This sends out a massive signal to people that there is a community here, young and old, and that they are not on their own,' he said. 'There is a very cold wind blowing outside of Ireland. I think it will reach here in some form or another. Social media is the real terrifying thing because it allows 24-hour bullying. Lord Mayor Fergal Dennehy and Lady Mayoress Karen Brennan leading the 2025 Cork Pride Parade on Sunday. 'The fact that the Pride slogan this year is 'a fearless future' tells its own story, and the theme of Pride in Belfast last week was 'never going back'. 'If you have to have slogans like that, it tells you there is something to fight against but that we will win against it.' Minister of State Jerry Buttimer, who came out as Fine Gael's first gay TD in 2012, said the community, and country has come a long way, with a new generation of people marching, but that people cannot be complacent. 'It's about holding the rights we have and ensuring that people are free to be who they are,' he said. Margarita O'Regan and Emma Clifford walking their dogs at the 2025 Cork Pride Parade on Sunday. Eimear McNally, 18, who is part of that new generation, said showing support for the rights won by the campaigners of the past, and keeping that support 'strong and present', is very important — especially today. 'People can be afraid to show real solidarity with tough causes right now and this is a day where everyone can express what they want to,' she said. Eurovision Fanclub president Frank Dermody at the 2025 Cork Pride Parade on Sunday. Nick Murphy, a member of the inclusive GAA club Na Laochra Aeracha, said the rise of homophobia is inevitable, given the rise of the far right across the world, and the echo chambers that exist on social media. 'This is why Pride needs to be. As long as people think like that, Pride will always be necessary,' he said. Claire Flynn, of Mammies for Trans Rights, said their group was founded because of concerning rhetoric from some places. 'We didn't want our children standing up and being front and centre, because we were afraid for their safety, so we said, as parents, we can stand up in front of them until it's safe enough for them to stand up,' she said.
RTÉ News
17-07-2025
- RTÉ News
US Senate passes foreign aid, public broadcasting cuts
The US Senate has approved President Donald Trump's plan for billions of dollars in cuts to funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting. The Senate voted 51 to 48 in favour of Mr Trump's request to cut $9 billion in spending already approved by Congress. Most of the cuts are to programmes to assist foreign countries suffering from disease, war and natural disasters, but the plan also eliminates all $1.1 billion the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was due to receive over the next two years. Mr Trump and many of his fellow Republicans argue that spending on public broadcasting is an unnecessary expense and reject its news coverage as suffering from anti-right bias. Standalone rescissions packages have not passed in decades, with politicians reluctant to cede their constitutionally mandated control of spending. But Mr Trump's Republicans, who hold narrow majorities in the Senate and House, have shown little appetite for resisting his policies since he began his second term in January. The $9 billion at stake is extremely small in the context of the $6.8 trillion federal budget, and represents only a tiny portion of all the funds approved by Congress that the Trump administration has held up while it has pursued sweeping cuts, many ordered by billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. As of mid-June, Mr Trump was blocking $425 billion in funding that had already been appropriated and previously approved by Congress, according to Democrats tracking frozen funding. However, Mr Trump and his supporters have promised more of the "rescission" requests to eliminate previously approved spending in what they say is an effort to pare back the federal government. The House of Representatives passed the rescissions legislation without altering Mr Trump's request by 214-212 last month. Four Republicans joined 208 Democrats in voting no. But after a handful of Republican senators balked at the extent of the cuts to global health programmes, Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said on Tuesday that PEPFAR, a global programme to fight HIV/AIDS launched in 2003 by then-president George W. Bush, was being exempted. The change brought the size of the package of cuts to $9 billion from $9.4 billion, requiring another House vote before the measure can be sent to the White House for Mr Trump to sign into law. The rescissions must pass by tomorrow. Otherwise, the request would expire and the White House will be required to adhere to spending plans passed by Congress. Two of the Senate's 53 Republicans - Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine - joined Democrats in voting against the legislation. "You don't need to gut the entire Corporation for Public Broadcasting," Ms Murkowski said in a Senate speech. She said the Trump administration also had not provided assurances that battles against diseases such as malaria and polio worldwide would be maintained. Most of all, Ms Murkowski said, Congress must assert its role in deciding how federal funds were spent. Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota called Mr Trump's request a "small, but important step toward fiscal sanity." Democrats scoffed at that, noting that congressional Republicans earlier this month passed a massive package of tax and spending cuts that nonpartisan analysts estimated would add more than $3 trillion to the nation's $36.2 trillion debt. Democrats charged Republicans with giving up Congress' Constitutionally-mandated control of federal spending. "Today, Senate Republicans turn this chamber into a subservient rubber stamp for the executive, at the behest of Donald Trump," Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said. "Republicans embrace the credo of cut, cut, cut now, and ask questions later," Mr Schumer said. The cuts would overturn bipartisan spending agreements most recently passed in a full-year stopgap funding bill in March. Democrats warn a partisan cut now could make it more difficult to negotiate government funding bills that must pass with bipartisan agreement by 30 September to avoid a shutdown. Appropriations bills require 60 votes to move ahead in the Senate, but the rescissions package needs just 51, meaning Republicans can pass it without Democratic support.
