Winner of the 2016 Labour Party Richard O’Carroll Empowerment Bursary announced

The winner of the inaugural Labour Party Richard O’Carroll Empowerment Bursary has been awarded to Eimear Mowlds, a third year Deaf Studies student at Trinity College Dublin.

Eimear is from Drimnagh, and attended the Presentation Secondary School in Warrenmount, Dublin 8, before starting her third level studies.

The bursary was launched by the Labour Party as part of our 1916 Rising Centenary Commemorations, to remember the life and legacy of Cllr Richard O’Carroll, a Labour Party founder and trade unionist.

Richard O’Carroll was first elected to Dublin Corporation in 1907 to represent the Mansion House Ward. Along with others, O’Carroll successfully campaigned to form the Labour Party as the political wing of the Irish Trades Union Congress, and he went on to become centrally involved in the 1913 Lock Out. Richard O’Carroll was the only elected representative to be killed during the Easter Rising.

Working closely with relatives of Richard, the Labour Party felt it fitting to remember the value he placed on education as a means to escape poverty, through introducing a bursary named in his memory.

Following a selection process, the Labour Party 1916 Centenary Committee selected Eimear as the bursary recipient in acknowledgement of her approach to her studies and her outlook as somebody with a keen sense of fairness and social justice. Eimear hopes to become an Irish Sign Language teacher, but volunteering to help parents of deaf and hearing impaired children better communicate, is something she also regards as very important.

Principles laid out in the Proclamation are still fundamental to life in modern day Ireland, according Eimear. Richard O’Carroll was a visionary who fought for a better future for our country, and today we continue to work for a better country for all of our people. Eimear’s articulation of issues that we face, both at home and abroad, demonstrate the massive scale of the task that we face.

“For me, the Richard O’Carroll Empowerment Bursary means I will have great peace of mind as I begin the new academic year,” she said after meeting Brian McDowell, Labour Party General Secretary; Cllr Rebecca Moynihan, Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin; and Sinéad Browne great-grand daughter of Richard O’Carroll.

“This award will help me so much by reducing my financial pressure and allowing me to devote more time and energy into pursuing my educational goals.”

The Labour Party 1916 Committee, along with representatives of the family of Richard O’Carroll, are delighted to award the 2016 Richard O’Carroll Empowerment Bursary of €2,000 to Eimear who we know will greatly benefit from this fund. Congratulation again and best of luck in continuing your studies, Eimear!