Bus Éireann's 1916 campaign commemorates Mayo woman

BUS Éireann and the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) have launched a collaborative campaign to commemorate leading female participants in the 1916 Rising.

The campaign features a specially wrapped double decker commuter bus, and posters illustrating the stories of six women who featured prominently in the Easter Rising, on 650 buses nationwide. Bus Éireann travel centres across the country – as well as bus bays, some bus shelters, and Busaras in Dublin – will also feature billboards and a short digital video for the campaign.

The figures will be profiled on board buses in the regions they are most associated with, with Mayo's Kathleen Lynn representing the west of Ireland.

Kathleen was a clergyman’s daughter from Mayo who became Chief Medical Officer with the Irish Citizen Army. During the Easter Rising she supervised a first-aid station in Dublin City Hall until the garrison’s surrender.

Posters with this information and a link to information on the five other women featured in the campaign – at www.buseireann.ie/womenoftherising - can be seen across Bus Éireann’s bus fleet in the west of Ireland.

The campaign coincides with a new drive by Bus Éireann to hire more female apprentices in roles traditionally dominated by young males.