(opened 1983, closed 2012)
Angie Birtill discusses her involvement with Ann Rossiter of HOWL
Angie: I worked at the London Irish Women’s Centre on housing, welfare and employment rights for twelve years. The Centre was run as a feminist collective where everyone, whether admin worker or cleaner, earned the same wage. It was a challenging but warm and inclusive workplace that for me combined the personal and the political. I felt at home amongst women who were strong, kind and funny. My colleagues at the time included Brid Boland, Jean Cross, Shelagh O’Connor and Gerry Hickey. All were part of a band of women who made a big contribution to the development of the Centre.
Ann: These were formative years for Irish women in London, especially for those embracing feminism. A vibrant and distinctive Irish feminism began to emerge supported by the Centre, not least through its annual Irish Women’s Conference which gave rise to the influential and widely circulated conference reports highlighting many aspects of Irish female migrant life. Can you explain your role in this work?
Angie: Homelessness and bad housing were amongst the biggest problems faced by women using the Centre. Not only did newly arrived emigrants not know their rights regarding anti-Irish discrimination and exclusion, but many long-term emigrants didn’t either. As far as housing was concerned, I helped secure council and housing association accommodation for many single and vulnerable women, as well as for families. The Irish Women’s Housing Action Group (IWHAG), of which I was part, together with activists Biddy Mitchell, Mary Connolly, Fran Clayton and Clare MacElwee, was set up at the Centre after local authorities like Camden and Islington began repatriating Irish families back to Ireland rather than place them on the housing list to which they were entitled. IWHG put together information and advice booklets to empower and encourage women as they made the distressing trek through the reams of bureaucracy involved.
My work also included lobbying local authorities to provide properly serviced sites and services for Irish Travellers. Also, I took up individual cases of Travellers facing eviction and financial hardship. The Centre’s report ‘Cearta Na dTaistealaithe (Rights for Travellers) was part of this work. Similarly, we supported women experiencing anti-Irish discrimination at work usually in the form of relegation to low-level jobs regardless of qualifications and anti-Irish abuse, by linking up with trade unions and providing joint evening advice sessions.
Ann: Welfare work must have occupied a considerable amount of your time as many women needed practical support on issues such as domestic violence and abortion.
Angie: Women experiencing domestic violence were given practical support at the Centre. We joined other Irish organisations in setting up ‘Solas Anois’ (Light Now) the first dedicated Irish service and refuge in Britain. On abortion provision, we referred women to the Irish Women’s Abortion Support Group and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, both London-based, when they phoned us for help. The Centre also provided a culturally sensitive counselling service and organised a mental health conference addressing Irish women’s particular problems.
Ann: I remember writing a piece on the Centre in the early 1990s relating the wide range of groups based there, from the Irish Women with Children Group to Video na mBan (Women’s Video) and various talks, lectures and courses on history and culture. Can you talk about these aspects of the Centre’s work?
Angie: Most of the women who came to the Centre were forging new lives in London without the support of families and friends. We supported their basic needs, but also provided a space to express and develop their cultural identity within a feminist framework. Examples were Irish language, music, art, and creative writing classes. I remember that St. Patrick’s Days events were always well attended, as were those held on International Women’s Day.
The Centre had a presence on many protests at the Irish Embassy over the denial of reproductive rights to women in the Republic of Ireland. We continually spoke out and joined public protests against the Prevention of Terrorism Act introduced in the British parliament in 1972 and campaigned with other Irish organisations to include an Irish category in the Census. Also, we took part in marches in commemoration of Bloody Sunday when British soldiers shot dead 26 unarmed civilians on a civil rights march in Derry, Northern Ireland. We demonstrated against the strip searching of Irish women political prisoners including Roisin MacAliskey, the daughter of Bernadette Devlin MacAliskey. Our banner was also in evidence on non-Irish related protests such as our appearance outside the High Court in support of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, who with the aid of Southall Black Sisters had her conviction for the murder of her violent husband quashed in 1992.
Ann: All in all, a very impressive history for a small institution that straddled ‘the personal’ and ‘the political’ and survived during much of the period of ‘The Troubles’ when Irish people in Britain were designated a ‘suspect community’ by British society at large.
Angie: The Centre’s multifaceted history is well captured in the film, ‘Breaking Ground: the story of the London Irish Women’s Centre’ 2013, directed by Michele Deignan and produced by Clare Dearnaley. (breakinggroundfilm.com)