Conversations with Vicky Phelan

Diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2014, health campaigner, Vicky Phelan told a Broadford author how grateful she was to be still able to complete mundane tasks like ironing and driving her children to school three and a half years before her untimely passing.
Marie O’Connell had attended a charity event launched by Ciara McCullough for the Children’s Grief Centre in Limerick which Ms Phelan, who was a guest speaker, acknowledged her children would need after her death.
Impressed by both Ms McCullough and Ms Phelan, Ms O’Connell contacted them after this event. On the night, Ms O’Connell stated it was funny, as the audience was waiting for Ms Phelan to arrive, it transpired she forgot she had an engagement because she was ironing, which she admitted during her talk.
In an email to Ms Phelan, Ms O’Connell recalled how the two inspirational women had reminded people about the importance of living life to the full and acting on their beliefs and ideas.
One of these ideas was to help Ms Phelan in her campaign.
“Vicky, believe it or not, you inspired me by doing the ironing, if you, with all you have been through, can continue with the mundane. Just by walking into the room you inspire. You bring an energy with you that arouses interest in those around you,” she said.
“Both you ladies had an aura about you that is very infectious and just being around you makes a person want to do better. You are both more than your stories but in telling your stories you are motivating others.
“How you both dealt with what life threw at you is most motivating. I was truly blown away with your humour, and your ease with people. I will not allow the awakening you aroused within me to go to waste, I will act on it today,” she stated.
In her reply to Maire on May 11, 2019, Ms Phelan admitted she was so grateful to be able to do mundane things like the ironing and driving her children out to school.
“Small things. But these are the things that matter in life when we are faced with no longer being there,” she said.
“After meeting Ciara last night, I was blown away by her infectious personality, drive and determination.
“I have my bad days too, Marie where it all gets on top of me. But, I allow myself to feel bad and then I pick myself up, dust myself down and do something. It is how we deal with trauma and stress and what we do that defines us.
“Find something that brings you joy and do it. I am so glad that Ciara and I inspired you last night. That is why I do what I do to help others like you to feel that they too can move on and cope with what life throws at them. Enjoy the small things.”
Ms Phelan is one of the trailblazing women featured in Ms O’Connell’s new book, “Influencers Of the Past”.
Meeting Ms Phelan left an indellible mark on the author.
“I had the pleasure of meeting Vicky Phelan. She brought a real sense of calm and spirituality with her,” she said.
“I want people especially women to recognise the impact she had on this country, and women’s healthcare. In spite of being told in 2018 she had less than a year to live, Vicky lived for four more years.
“She took charge of her own health care, informing herself and exploring all possible avenues open to her. In February 2023, legislation was introduced to make open disclosure in the healthcare systems, this was Vicky’s legacy.
“Vicky was an influencer who inspired everyone in Ireland with her courage and bravery. I appreciate everything she did for women and this country. She influenced me to take better care of myself and to ask questions of doctors and hospitals.”
Ms O’Connell has completed two publications featuring interesting East Clare men and women, which she feels are very accessible and easy to read.
Councillor Donna McGettigan (SF) will officially launch “Influencers of the Past”, which is dedicated to her late aunt Margaret O’Connor, former O’Brien’s Bridge Community Group chairperson, in Broadford Community Centre on Saturday, October 19 at 7pm.
This book chronicles inspirational Clare women who made an impact on society who haven’t always gained the recognition they deserved.
While pursuing women’s studies as an elective in college, the author discovered Mary Wollstonecraft and her story influenced her to research the stories of other strong women, which became a passion.
Ms O’Connell recalled her late aunt, who died on February 22, 2022, was an achiever, a Sinn Féin and community activist, a daughter, sister, wife, but her greatest joy was as a mother as her daughter, Triona was her pride and joy.
“She was small in stature, but packed a punch. She was warm, witty, fun-loving, with a mischievous glint in her eye,” she said.
“She could be a rogue, but she was very serious about things that mattered. Diagnosed with cancer, Mags lived for several months, surprising family, and friends with her willingness to beat her illness.
“I was honoured to be with her when she took her last breath,” she said.
Ms O’Connell’s mother, Bríd is featured in the book as she was a very “ordinary woman who did a lot of extraordinary things that we didn’t know about until she died”.
Other influential women include Margaret O’Connor, Marie Rua O’Brien, Biddy Earlie, Laura Brennan, East Clare Cumann na mBan, Nan Hogan, Kathleen Talty, Kathleen Griffin, Georgina Frost, The Colleen Bawn, Lady Gregory, Elizabeth Crotty, Peggy Morrissey, Teresa Flynn, Maud Nash, Carla Blake, Ethel Normoyle, Vicky Phelan, Suffragettes and Tuamgraney internationally acclaimed author, Edna O’Brien, who was a huge inspiration to female writers.
“I love all the women in this book. As I researched and wrote about each woman, they became my favourite. I want to honour the women of Clare, I want to put them back in history where they belong,” she said.
Senator Timmy Dooley will officially launch “By the Fireside – Granda’s Memories”, which brings together some of her father’s and her own memories, weaving ancedotes, stories, literature and research at the same event.
This book started off as a private project recording her memories of Patrick O’Connell, Violet Hill, Broadford. While chronicling her father’s stories, she started researching and recording some of her memories.
She quickly realised her project was, in fact, an oral history of the forties, fifties, sixties and seventies.
This book remembers people who leave an impression and Ms O’Connell feels she is one of the storytellers of the past for future generations. Dedicated to her father, the book is in memory of her late mother, Bríd, who died four years ago and her cousin, the late Seanie Kelleher.
Working as a saw doctor in McMahon’s Sawmills between Mountshannon and Whitegate, Mr O’Connell opened Broadford Sawmills in the seventies, employing five to ten people over the years.
Using all native Irish timber, he used a lot of wood from East Clare and Douglas Fir. A lot of houses in Clare have been roofed by Broadford Sawmills. Having closed the business in the late eighties, he became an overseer with Fás until he was 65 when he continued farming.
Eight six on October 28, Mr O’Connell says he is the only person he knows who is not retired as he continues to fix a variety of machines such as lawn movers and saws.
One of the stories in the book outlines how her father fixed a machine in the local quarry by just looking at it at the age of 13 and 14.
When her father was young, the local Garda Sergeant got a new “squad car”, a Ford Anglia, which he could only drive in a straight line so he asked Patrick to show him how to drive.
It was a bit comical for people watching a young boy driving a big bulky Sergeant to Tulla Courthouse.
This arrangement lasted until the Sergeant learned how to reverse and park.
One of her happiest memories is attending the 1995 All-Ireland hurling final when Clare defeated Offaly in a welter of excitement.
“Dad dreamt for so many years of Clare winning an All-Ireland. When they did, I was so glad I was there with him, it was such a tender and intimate moment.
“We met everyone we knew in Croke Park, which was wonderful. The atmosphere was electric, there was a nervous tension, because we as Clare people, were not used to being involved in an All-Ireland final.
“There was an overflow of emotion when we realised we had won the All-Ireland. I looked at my dad and he had tears in his eyes. I was so thrilled but I was most overjoyed for my dad after all his years following Clare he saw them win an All-Ireland.”
Another story, which will resonate with rural dwellers is how a blue van used for deliveries from the sawmill was transformed into a tour bus at the weekends to drive lads and lassies to dances and marquees.
“It became so well known that when the blue van arrived, they knew the Broadford crowd had arrived. Dad would open the back doors to be met with a cloud of smoke as they would pile out of the van, one after another.
“There was no health and safety in the blue van, but no one was hurt only squashed.”
This is Ms O’Connell’s fourth book. Her first book – “Community at Heart” – who will bury our dead?” outlined the need for more lay people to complete clerical duties.
It examined past communities and traditions in the catholic church, current reality, future possibilities, and guidelines for pastoral councils.
Last year, the University of Limerick administrator launched her second book – “Third Time Lucky at Table L2” chronicling the thrills and spills of online dating.