9/9/24: Continuing our ongoing series of events to celebrate 50 years since the founding of the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, an afternoon dedicated to Glencree co-founder, Una O'Higgins O'Malley, was held on Sunday 8th September.

Invited guests met in Glencree for Afternoon Tea followed by a staged reading of 'The Bricklayer', a play in development by Grace O’Malley about the life and work of her grandmother Una. Among the over 100 guests in attendance were Una's daughter Iseult and sons Art and Kevin.

Una O'Higgins O'Malley was the daughter of Kevin O’Higgins, the first Minister for Justice in the Irish Free State, who was assassinated by anti-treaty forces. Though she was only 5 months old at the time, the loss of her father was felt profoundly by Una throughout her life. She dedicated herself to campaigning for peace and reconciliation. It was a journey that also led her to forgive her father's assassins, who claimed they had danced on his grave. Una’s life and work serve as powerful reminders that peacebuilding and reconciliation require overcoming challenges, resolving conflicts, and dealing with trauma. Her belief that conflict can, and should, be resolved non-violently through dialogue and relationship-building, led her to join with others and establish the Glencree Centre in 1974.

Opening the reading, Glencree CEO Naoimh McNamee said: "As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of Glencree, it is important to us to honour the spirit, tenacity and enormous contribution that Una made in founding the Glencree Centre. Una worked tirelessly alongside others over many years to create and hold a safe space for people to come and talk to one another, to work through difficult issues and build lasting relationships across divides that made a very real contribution to peace on this island."

"The creative arts are an important vehicle for our peacebuilding work in Glencree. Theatre, music, visual arts and many more tools are used for storytelling to help introduce difficult topics into the room, and to help us step into each other shoes. This important dramatical piece will give us an insight into the lives of Una and our other founding members, who worked through so many challenges to set up the Glencree Centre 50 years ago and I thank Grace for sharing her work with us today."

Written by Grace O'Malley, DIrected by Conall Morrison, Produced by Hugh Farrell, with Assistant Director Amy Kidd, and Dramaturg Colin Murphy, the reading of The Bricklayer took place in the marquee on the lawn of Glencree. The cast included Caitríona Ní Mhurchú as Una; with Jane Brennan, Peter Hanly, Ronan Leahy and Karen Ardiff in the roles of Una's sister Maeve, her husband Eoin O'Malley and her father Kevin O'Higgins. Amy Kidd also narrated and played the role of Una's interviewer. The reading featured Una's own words read from her diary and excerpts from love letters between Una's mother and father.

At the end of the staging, Grace O'Malley fondly remembered her grandmother and thanked the cast, crew, guests, the funders and supporters of the play. Also remembering Una were Glencree co-founder and Board Director Geoffrey Corry, co-founder and dear friend of Una's Judy Hayes, and Dramaturg Colin Murphy. Una's son, Kevin O'Higgins commended Grace on her work in progress and thanked the actors, the production team and the Glencree team.

As afternoon tea was served in the Armoury Cafe, music by harpist Claire O'Donnell added to the sense of celebration and remembrance of the event.

The gathering for the reading of The Bricklayer marked the second day of weekend celebrations of Glencree's 50th anniversary. Day one featured the Glencree Dialogue Series which took place on Saturday 7th September. More information about this event can be found here >

Earlier in the summer, a Glencree@50 reunion weekend for Glencree Volunteers took place, details of which can be viewed here >

Further events to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Glencree will continue throughout the year.

#glencree4peace #glencree50