Sligo County Council honours three ‘outstanding women’ at civic reception

By Philip Rooney, The Sligo Champion

Two outstanding Sligo women and one ‘adopted’ Sligo woman were honoured at a civic reception in County Hall this week as Sandy Kelly, Caroline Currid and Eileen Magnier have been honoured for the outstanding contribution they have made to Irish society.

In his welcoming address Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr Donal Gilroy said, “We gather to celebrate and recognise three outstanding women who have made an outstanding contribution to Irish life.”

Kilkenny native Eileen Magnier became synonymous with life in Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal in her role as RTE’s north west correspondent for almost 35 years with Cllr Gilroy describing her as “One of Ireland’s most trusted regional journalists.”

He spoke about her role as a regional correspondent saying, “Yours has been a career defined by trust, integrity and public service.”

Cllr Gilroy noted Ms Magnier reported on stories from the region with “compassion,” adding, “On behalf of Sligo County Council I offer sincere thanks and wish you many happy years of retirement.”

There was also a warm welcome for Ms Magnier’s husband TJ Kilgannon as well as family and friends. A particular mention was saved for her long serving and trusted camerman, John McMorrow with Cllr Gilroy commenting, “Unfortunately we are losing John to the great world of retirement on Friday.”

‘I applaud the Council for acknowledging the role of women. It still amazes me I was the first woman correspondent, we have come a long way’

Circumstances dictated that neither Caroline Currid nor Sandy Kelly were able to attend the civic reception, but warm tributes were paid to both women in their absence.

Speaking glowingly about Grange’s Caroline Currid, Cllr Gilroy said the former Sligo footballer, who captained her county the year they won the All-Ireland Junior Championship in 2006 is, “One of the most sought after experts in her field.”

Cllr Gilroy noted the sports psychologist has been involved in a professional capacity, in her role as a performance coach, with seven All-Ireland winning teams in her time with the Limerick and Tipperary hurlers and Tyrone and Dublin footballers.

Cllr Gilroy added, “Though not with us this evening, we are immensely proud of her achievements.”

The contribution of Sandy Kelly to music and society was also hailed with Cllr Gilroy describing her as “One of the most iconic figures in Irish country music.”

He noted that she represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1982 and later would collaborate with the legendary Johnny Cash.

Cllr Gilroy also acknowledged her induction into the Irish Country Music Hall of Fame saying, “Her music has been the soundtrack of many people’s lives.”

Having been a regular attendee at functions and events in the Council Chamber over the years, Ms Magnier took to the podium joking, “It makes a change to be up here!” On a day when records were set for the warmest ever May day she recalled, “When I first came to the north west I was christened the ‘north wet’ correspondent!”

Acknowledging her fellow recipients, Ms Magnier said, “I’m really sorry Caroline and Sandy aren’t here. Sandy is a legend, there is nothing else you can say. Caroline is just brilliant, even if she has cost Kilkenny a few All-Irelands.

“I applaud the Council for acknowledging the role of women. It still amazes me I was the first woman correspondent, we have come a long way.”

Eileen Magnier pictured with her husband TJ, Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr Donal Gilroy, Director of Services Emer Concannon and Cllrs Fergal Nealon, Edel McSharry, Marie Casserly and Thomas Walsh

After the formalities, Ms Magnier shared her thoughts on the civic reception afforded to her and also took a moment to look back on her time in front of the RTE camera.

“It is very nice to have that recognition for the effort and the work that you put in over the years. I would have been in the Chamber working an awful lot and under more pressurised situations so it was lovely to be there as a guest and to have the work that I have done recognised.

“It was a very challenging job in lots of ways, so the recognition for that is much appreciated.”

Reflecting on the significance of her role and the fact that she was invited into sitting rooms across the country every evening to relay the day’s news, both good and bad it was, she acknowledged, a unique situation to find herself.

“I think it took a little bit of time to get the full realisation of just how much you were in people’s sitting rooms or on the radio in kitchens and cars.

Eileen Magnier pictured with her husband TJ and Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council, Cllr Donal Gilroy

‘ I think it is very important for younger women and for young men to see women achieving and that we are constantly making steps forward in a positive way.’

“I think the best piece of advice I ever got was, when you are delivering your story just think you are telling the story to just one person. You never think there’s half a million people watching me, your nerves would go. It was all about telling the story and telling it honestly in the best way you could and being empathetic and being conscious of the fact that these were real people you were dealing with.

“Some of the tragic situations that we were reporting on, I would always say to myself, ‘what if it was me, what if I was the mother who lost their child in a murder or a car crash’. That grounds you in a way and makes you think, it’s not about me on the telly, it’s about me imparting very important information to people all over the country and I tried to do it as best I could.”

Reflecting on the stories she covered, it goes without saying that the good news stories were more enjoyable to cover with Ms Magnier acknowledging, “I always loved doing those or the quirky stories. For a long period of time I did a lot of Nationwide, and that kept your head in a good space because you could get quite down if you had a run of tragedies. We would have had weeks when we were on the road. You might be up in Donegal after a car crash, and you would be there for a week or a shipping trawler gone down, you’re there for the full week. You would be like a rock if it didn’t hit you in some way and the counterbalance was doing positive stories and good news stories. I always got great pleasure out of that.”

On a day in which the role of Sligo women in society was to the fore, she acknowledged a lot has changed since she first joined RTE.

“My only gripe is that I am a Kilkenny woman and the Kilkenny hurlers are on the wrong side of Caroline, but I really admire what she has achieved. I think it is fantastic that the Council is acknowledging the work that us three women have done because often women’s work goes unacknowledged. I think it is very important for younger women and for young men to see women achieving and that we are constantly making steps forward in a positive way.”

The fact that the sight of a female informing of us the day’s events via the national broadcaster is no longer a talking point is something Ms Magnier believes illustrates how far Ireland has come as a country.

“When I came here first, one of the big challenges I had was when I would go out to do interviews about a story was actually getting a woman to talk. So often they would defer to the man. I was constantly trying to get a woman to speak on air about whatever the topic was, and it took a long time before women were even volunteering to do an interview. I was the first female correspondent in RTE but very soon after that there was my colleague Cathy Halloran, Ingrid Malley and I think behind the scenes with editors and technical people and in front of the camera it must 50/50, there is just no issue in the media anymore.”

Article Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.