Celebrating Longford women on International Women’s Day

Longford Women’s Link (LWL) marked International Women’s Day last Friday with a celebratory event in conjunction with Network Ireland Roscommon. 

The special guest speaker on the day was Network Ireland Roscommon president and former LWL chairperson, Stephanie Igoe.

Elected representatives and staff members of Longford County Council at the photographic exhibition in Áras an Chontae to mark International Women's Day. Picture: Shelley Corcoran

Tara Farrell, CEO of Longford Women’s Link, spoke to the Longford Leader about the significance of the event, which was held at the organisation's Ballinalee Road base, and attended by network branch members as well as members affiliated with LWL in a variety of ways, all of whom came together to celebrate the achievements of recent years. 

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Tara explained, “We wanted to celebrate all the achievements that have taken place, a lot of which focus on enterprise, on women forging their own career paths, and taking on new skills and challenges.

Amy Leavy, Margaret Walsh, Siobhan Cronogue, Valentina Lizgeno, Svetlana Ueanska and Iryna Kapustyanyk Pic: Shelley Corcoran

“It's good for us to celebrate achievements because quite a lot of the time we tend to focus on the things we haven't done and the things we haven't achieved, whereas our event for International Women’s Day is about looking at what has been achieved and the fantastic work that's going on in our community.”

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Also speaking at the event were Longford based entrepreneurs, including Eilish Foley of Eilish Foley Hypnotherapy, Regina Donnellan from Lanesbrew cafe and Kriti Singh, nutrition and health coach.

Elsie Moxham, Kathleen Dowd, Tess Murphy and Tara Farrell. Picture: Shelley Corcoran

The speakers on the day hailed from both the Network Ireland Roscommon branch as well as from LWL’s own programmes, including Stepping Stones, a two year programme for women parenting alone.

As Network Ireland Roscommon previously chose LWL as their 2026 charity partner, it is now hoped the two organisations will be collaborating more going forward. 

Read: Dramatic rise in number of domestic violence victims supported by Longford Women's Link

Speaking about their guest, Network President Stephanie Igoe, Tara added, “Stephanie is such a role model for women in business. She's an amazing woman and we're very lucky to have her on our board."

"She's long been a supporter of Longford Women’s Link and she’s also a former chair so it's lovely to have that link between the two organisations.”

Jize Bekere, Eilish Foley, Kriti Singh, Stephanie Igoe, Tara Farrell, Regina Donnellan, Caroline Shaughnessy and Marta Ziekinska. Picture: Shelley Corcoran

Network President, Stephanie Igoe, said, “Network Ireland is a women in business organisation with branches across the country with the aim of supporting, building connections, and promoting our businesses or careers." 

With strong demand for the LWL service, Tara says LWL is “always looking for people who might want to join the community employment team.” 

She added, “International Women’s Day is such a celebratory day but there's still so many challenges out there. We have had one of our busiest years ever in the domestic violence service, unfortunately in 2025. 

Tara Farrell and Stephanie Igoe. Picture: Shelley Corcoran

There's some fantastic work going on in the community, particularly with the inter-agency group but there's still a huge challenge in terms of what women are having to deal with in the criminal justice system, the lack of housing, the lack of safe housing, etc”

Meanwhile, Longford County Council’s headquarters was the venue for a photographic exhibition to mark International Women’s Day. 

The exhibition is curated from council records stretching back to 1899, and gathers the faces and stories of every woman ever elected to public office in County Longford - from Town Commissions and Urban District Councils to the County Council itself.

Loretto McGarry, Tetiana Chorna, Natalie O'Reilly, Nuala McGowan, Eilish Foley, Fakheya Lungu. Picture: Shelley Corcoran

Today, only two of the 18 seats on Longford County Council are held by women (Longford Municipal District Cathaoirleach Cllr Uruemu Adejinmi and Cllr Peggy Nolan) - 11% - making it one of the lowest rates of female representation in the country. 

LWL have an affinity with this exhibition through their See Her Elected (SHE) project.  

Eilish Foley, Olga Croitoru, Fakheya Lungu, Temi Lana, Swetha Shashikumay and Kathleen Dowd. Picture: Shelley Corcoran

Tara Farrell remarked, “It's great to see the exhibition in the county council offices. I think it serves as a reminder of how far we have to go when we see the small numbers of brilliant women who are elected and put themselves forward for election."

"What needs to change is for us to reach a level where we have a 50/50 balance in our councils, in our Dáil, and in all of the electoral areas.”

Funded by the local democracy reporting scheme