Bernadette: Notes on a Political Journey, a film by Lelia Doolan at Ennistymon Courthouse Gallery

Made over a period of nine years, this is the first full-length film on Bernadette McAliskey’s work and ideas since John Goldschmidt’s pioneering documentary in 1969. It will be screened in the Courthouse Gallery in Ennistymon on Friday 21st of February 2014 at 8pm. In Bernadette: Notes on a Political Journey, she reflects on some arresting and painful moments in her public life. When Bernadette Devlin first exploded into the public arena in 1969, she and her fellow students in the People’s Democracy were described as belonging to the politics of impatience. As John Bowman said of her: ‘She was not prepared to grow old in an unjust system. At 21, she was a veteran of the “Battle of Bogside”. Described as an Irish Joan of Arc and a mini-skirted Castro, she won the mid-Ulster by-election in 1969, the youngest woman ever elected at Westminster. She survived an assassination attempt in 1981 and remains a radical socialist republican. Commenting on the peace process in the North, she said, ‘Whether we like it or not, no matter how much we paid in the struggle to be somewhere else, this is where we are!’ Bernadette Devlin McAliskey is currently co-ordinating a publicly funded cross-community, grassroots organisation from her home in County Tyrone. The director Lelia Doolan will attend the screening and do a Questions and Answers session after the screening. Running Time 90 mins. Admission €5. Ennistymon Courthouse Gallery and Studios is supported by Clare County Council.