Margaret Collins-O'Driscoll

Margaret Collins-O'Driscoll
Collins-O'Driscoll as she appeared in a 1933 piece of election material
Teachta Dála
In office August 1923 – January 1933
Constituency	Dublin North
Personal details
Born	Margaret Mary Collins (1876-08-18)18 August 1876 Clonakilty, County Cork, Ireland
Died	17 June 1945(1945-06-17) (aged 68) Cabra, Dublin, Ireland
Political party	Cumann na nGaedheal
Spouse	Patrick O'Driscoll ​ (m. 1901)​
Children	14
Relatives	Michael Collins (brother) Dervla Kirwan (great-granddaughter)

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.

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 principal of Lisavaird girls' national school in Clonakilty, and also taught in Dublin.^[2]

Politics

She was the first female Cumann na nGaedheal TD. In 1926 she was elected a vice-president of the party, and was the only female member of the Dáil between September 1927 and February 1932.^[2]

She was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Cumann na nGaedheal TD for the Dublin North constituency at the 1923 general election.^[4] Socially conversative, she 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 subsequent election until she lost her seat at the 1933 general election.^[5]

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