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» Deirdre Whelan
Martina Shanahan’s life began in 1965. The youngest of six, my baby sister was born at home in Rathfarnham, Dublin I remember the night, even though I was only five at the time. I remember waking up to the sound of a baby crying, and when I said it to my sister Mary, she told me “Go back to sleep. It’s only cats”. Next morning, there was Martina in my mother’s arms and our life together began.
Ours was a Republican home. We were brought up with stories about my aunt Jennie Shanahan, who had fought in City Hall in 1916, and my grandfather Patrick Shanahan who also took part in the Rising. Our father was an active Republican and made us very aware of what was happening in the North. I remember in the early seventies, we had children staying with us, who had been brought South to get a break from the pogroms that were happening in Belfast and other parts of the North.