Laura Madigan

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” Maya Angelou. “We may lose and we may win, but we will never be here again”.

[Laura Madigan @farrandeel]

https://t.co/wJC6Byqu7c

[Laura Madigan @farrandeel]

@Charlygotyou Couldn’t be arsed 😁

[Laura Madigan @farrandeel]

@Mrgregles This has made my day!! 🥰

[⟡michelle⟡ @classiccinemich]

i know people have a lot of opinions about xanadu (1980) but i’m sorry this is the best movie musical closing number ever! nothing tops this level of 80s camp WITH gene kelly roller skating alongside olivia newton-john!

[Laura Madigan @farrandeel]

@iasupport Almost 16 years.

[Dr Mary O'Kane @MOKEarlyYears]

'The reason that many children may require SNAs in the first place is that they did not get timely access to occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and other supports outside of school that might have helped them manage their needs much better.' Mary Regan https://t.co/kmWFvaElsW

[BUCHANAN: Dublin Time Machine @RobLooseCannon]

On this day in 1984 a terrified, freezing 15- year-old schoolgirl called Ann Lovett was crouched in the fetal position, in agony, at the grotto of the Virgin Mary in Granard, Co. Longford.

But whilst this child is certainly innocent and worthy of help, and this is a place where pious people come to seek assistance from Our Lady, her desperate prayers will not be answered that lonely night.

Amid the darkness and cold, Ann will give birth to a stillborn baby. Compounding that unimaginable tragedy which occurred in this dreary garden of Gethsemane, just hours later the teenage mother will also perish in Mullingar hospital.

Although barbaric scenes like this have played out countless times in "modern" Ireland, this instance captured the country's imagination. The 80s were a more media-savvy age than ever and with the added symbolic poignancy of the grotto was impossible to ignore.

The town of Granard, then only a rural village of 1,285 souls reacted in a variety of ways to these horrific events. Ireland, let alone rural Ireland, in 1984 was practically a religious theocracy. The Catholic Church and conservative outlooks born of generations of poverty strangled the lives of people in general but women and girls in particular.

Some locals were aware of Ann's pregnancy. Gardaí have never revealed how a visibly pregnant schoolgirl could leave a classroom on a freezing rainy winter's day. Everyone had failed this girl and baby boy, from the nuclear family unit all the way up to Leinster House.

Four months before that fateful night, two-thirds of the country had voted in an abortion referendum to enshrine the "right to life" of the unborn in the constitution, without adequately clarifying what happened when this clashed with the constitutional "right to life" of the mother. Ann's deceased infant boy was posthumously baptised Pat. The two innocents, the child, and her child, were buried together in the same coffin.

It was obvious this very homegrown horror story would become a religious and political football for parties on both sides who didn't give a damn about women or babies. But when the handful of female TDs and activists attempted to speak out for victims, they were roundly ignored in favour of a soundbite from a bishop, or a geriatric male politician.

Despite Minister of State for Women's Affairs and Family Law Nuala Fennell making a passionate plea in the Dáil for an inquiry, none materialised. However, amid the sanctimonious accusations and assignations of blame real social progress took root.

The closest Irish society came to openly dissecting the issue was on The Gay Byrne Hour radio show.
Hundreds of people, mostly women, wrote in to talk about their experiences and their hopes for change.

[Laura Madigan @farrandeel]

@_sorrengailll Yep. Good times.

[Sassington, M.C. @MissSassbox]

living long enough to see the birth and death of MTV is something that my brain never prepared for 😂

[TG4 @TG4TV]

Samaritans
☎️116123

Childline
☎️1800666666

Women's Aid
☎️1800341900

Aware
☎️1800804848

Men's Aid
☎️015543811

Dublin Rape Crisis
☎️1800778 888

Bodywhys
☎️1890 200 444

Pieta House
☎️1800 247 247

AA
☎️1800 459 459

Gamblers Anonymous
☎️01 872 1133

Nollaig Shona…🎄

[Laura Madigan @farrandeel]

@bulletprfsoul @MaiaDunphy Didn’t fix mine, unfortunately.

[Laura Madigan @farrandeel]

@Limerick_Leader Fork found in drawer 🙄

[Alejandro Villarreal @alamofilmguy]

An anecdote I cherish is Mandy Patinkin once asked Rob Reiner what The Princess Bride was about. Reiner said it’s about a grandfather telling his grandson that the most important thing in in the world is love. I think that’s beautiful.

[Scott Barber @thescottbarber]

It was Rob Reiner who gave us this

[Laura Madigan @farrandeel]

@lippyent I don’t understand the question?

[small waist, pretty face 🫦 @oddettem]

Dear ladies never forget that: The same world that shames me for being a single mother also shames you for not being a mother and shames another woman for having too many children..lt shames one woman for having a child at the age of 19 because she's too young but also shames another for having at 36 because she's too old..lt shames a woman who marries young as well as the one who marries old..It shames women who don't have beautiful bodies and shames those who go under the knife to get the bodies. This world shames all women, not a single one of us is spared, not a single one. So love and make yourselves happy.

[Laura Madigan @farrandeel]

@LeanneComedy If you ever do a European tour, please, please, please, come to Ireland!

[Laura Madigan @farrandeel]

@BoneheadsPage No, thank you 🥰

[Oasis @oasis]

“And so it came to pass.

‘The most damaging pop cultural force in recent British history’ found its way into the hearts and minds of a new generation. From Gallagher Hill to the River Plate, from Croke Park on the banks of the Royal Canal to the City Of Angels, the love, joy, tears and euphoria will never be forgotten.

There will now be a pause for a period of reflection.”

Oasis

[Laura Madigan @farrandeel]

@LeanneComedy Listening to What in the World in the car everyday and it’s just brilliant. So funny and honest. I’m a 51 year old Irishwoman, you’d think we’d have nothing in common,but my god we do.