Máire MacSwiney Bridge now fully recognised in Blackpool

A Cork bridge named after Máire MacSwiney, a pioneering suffragette and politician, has been officially recognised with a new commemorative sign.

The bridge, which crosses the N20 at Dublin Street in Blackpool, was named in the mid-2000s but had never been publicly marked. It is now confirmed as the third bridge in Cork city named after a woman, alongside the Nano Nagle Bridge (1985) and the Mary Elmes Bridge (2019).

Máire MacSwiney was one of the first women elected to Dáil Éireann and served as the first vice-president of Sinn Féin after Fianna Fáil split with it. Born in London, she moved to Cork at age six and overcame serious illness in childhood, including the amputation of a foot. In 1921, she was elected to the Dáil during the War of Independence and became a vocal opponent of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

The new sign was installed by Cork City Council staff and funded by local councillors in the North East ward.

Green Party councillor Oliver Moran, who confirmed the bridge's name, said: “The overbridge was named some time in the mid-noughties but the name was never marked and looked set to fall out of memory. If it wasn't for an obscure statutory instrument describing the route of the N20, it might have been forgotten about altogether. That was the only confirming document we could find.

“MacSwiney was a controversial figure but significant in her role as a suffragette, one of the first women TDs, and the first vice-president of Sinn Féin after the split with Fianna Fáil,” he added.

“At the launch of 'Mary MacSwiney', the latest book from Cork author and historian Dr Leeann Lane, the author confirmed to me that the bridge was named after her and she commonly went by Máire in person, which would explain the name.”

This marks a long-overdue step in recognising women in Cork’s public landscape.